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dank.

Dark, damp and humid.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈdæŋk/[ˈdæŋk]/ˈdeɪ̯ŋk/Canada, US[ˈdeɪ̯ŋk]Canada, US
  1. Dark, damp and humid.

    The dank cave was chilly and spooky.
  2. Moist and sticky, (by extension) highly potent.

    figuratively
    That was dank bud.
  3. Great, awesome.

    Internet · ironic · often
  4. Expounding right-wing views in a cool way; based.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English danke (“wet, damp; dampness, moisture”), probably from North Germanic, related to Swedish dank (“marshy spot”), Icelandic dökk (“pool”), Old Norse dǫkk (“pit, depression”), from Proto-Germanic *dankwaz (“dark”). However, some trace it to a West Germanic source such as Dutch damp (“vapor”) or Middle High German damph, both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dampaz (“smoke, steam, vapor”). Modern slang senses derived from the drug sense; compare based (“awesome, especially in a right-wing context online”) from drug terminology freebased.

noun/ˈdæŋk/[ˈdæŋk]/ˈdeɪ̯ŋk/Canada, US[ˈdeɪ̯ŋk]Canada, US
  1. Moisture; humidity; water.

    uncountable
  2. Dankness; a dark, moist and usually unpleasant atmosphere.

    uncountable
  3. Strong, high-quality cannabis.

    slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English danke (“wet, damp; dampness, moisture”), probably from North Germanic, related to Swedish dank (“marshy spot”), Icelandic dökk (“pool”), Old Norse dǫkk (“pit, depression”), from Proto-Germanic *dankwaz (“dark”). However, some trace it to a West Germanic source such as Dutch damp (“vapor”) or Middle High German damph, both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dampaz (“smoke, steam, vapor”). Modern slang senses derived from the drug sense; compare based (“awesome, especially in a right-wing context online”) from drug terminology freebased.

verb/ˈdæŋk/[ˈdæŋk]/ˈdeɪ̯ŋk/Canada, US[ˈdeɪ̯ŋk]Canada, US
  1. To moisten, dampen; used of mist, dew etc.

    intransitive · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English danken, from the adjective (see above).

noun/ˈdæŋk/[ˈdæŋk]/ˈdeɪ̯ŋk/Canada, US[ˈdeɪ̯ŋk]Canada, US
  1. A small silver coin formerly used in Persia.

    historical
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.