jank.
Perceptible pause in the smooth rendering of a software application's user interface due to slow operations or poor interface design.
Meaning & usage
Perceptible pause in the smooth rendering of a software application's user interface due to slow operations or poor interface design.
Game mechanics of unconventional or flawed design or implementation, and the experience of such mechanics, as to ruin or disrupt play, or break immersion; e.g. bugs and glitches.
A game, or games, with such mechanics.
Where this word comes from
Ostensibly a back-formation from janky (“shoddy, poor quality”).
Janky.
Sadly, my new laptop is even more jank than my old one.
Where this word comes from
Ostensibly a back-formation from janky (“shoddy, poor quality”).
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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.