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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

shack.

A crude, roughly built hut or cabin.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ʃæk/
  1. A crude, roughly built hut or cabin.

  2. Any poorly constructed or poorly furnished building.

  3. The room from which a ham radio operator transmits.

    slang
Where this word comes from

Unknown. Some scholars derive this word from Mexican Spanish jacal, from Nahuatl xacalli (“adobe hut”). Alternatively, the word may instead come from ramshackle/ramshackly (e.g., old ramshackly house) or perhaps it may be a back-formation from shackly. Compare Tavringer Romani hak (“place, house”), Traveller Norwegian hak (“place”).

verb/ʃæk/
  1. To live (in or with); to shack up.

Where this word comes from

Unknown. Some scholars derive this word from Mexican Spanish jacal, from Nahuatl xacalli (“adobe hut”). Alternatively, the word may instead come from ramshackle/ramshackly (e.g., old ramshackly house) or perhaps it may be a back-formation from shackly. Compare Tavringer Romani hak (“place, house”), Traveller Norwegian hak (“place”).

noun/ʃæk/
  1. Grain fallen to the ground and left after harvest.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  2. Nuts which have fallen to the ground.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  3. Freedom to pasturage in order to feed upon shack.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  4. A shiftless fellow; a low, itinerant beggar; a vagabond; a tramp.

    UK · US · countable · dialectal · obsolete · uncountable
  5. Bait that can be picked up at sea.

    countable · uncountable
  6. A drink, especially an alcoholic one.

    Nigeria · countable · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Obsolete variant of shake. Compare Scots shag (“refuse of barley or oats”).

verb/ʃæk/
  1. To shed or fall, as corn or grain at harvest.

    obsolete
  2. To feed in stubble, or upon waste.

    obsolete
  3. To wander as a vagabond or tramp.

    UK · dialectal
  4. To hibernate; to go into winter quarters.

    US · intransitive
  5. To drink, especially alcohol.

    Nigeria · slang
Where this word comes from

Obsolete variant of shake. Compare Scots shag (“refuse of barley or oats”).

adj/ʃæk/
  1. Alternative form of shag (“exhausted; tiring”).

    Singapore · Singlish · alt-of · alternative · slang
Where this word comes from

From shagged or shagged out.

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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.