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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

stank.

Foul-smelling, stinking, unclean.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/stæŋk/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/staŋk/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/stɛŋk/New-Zealand/stæŋk/US
  1. Foul-smelling, stinking, unclean.

    derogatory · not-comparable · slang
Where this word comes from

Respelling of stink, representing the thank-think merger. Compare thang.

noun/stæŋk/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/staŋk/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/stɛŋk/New-Zealand/stæŋk/US
  1. A stink; a foul smell.

    derogatory · slang
Where this word comes from

Respelling of stink, representing the thank-think merger. Compare thang.

noun/stæŋk/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/staŋk/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/stɛŋk/New-Zealand/stæŋk/US
  1. A certain quality, especially to jazz music, which is often desirable and can be achieved by, among other things, crunchy harmonies, blue notes and groovy rhythm

    slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Respelling of stink, representing the thank-think merger. Compare thang.

verb/stæŋk/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/staŋk/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/stɛŋk/New-Zealand/stæŋk/US
  1. To stink; to smell bad.

  2. To cause to smell bad.

Where this word comes from

Respelling of stink, representing the thank-think merger. Compare thang.

noun/stæŋk/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/staŋk/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/stɛŋk/New-Zealand/stæŋk/US
  1. Water retained by an embankment; a pool of water.

    UK · dialectal
  2. A dam or mound to stop water.

    UK · dialectal
Where this word comes from

From Old French estanc, (French étang), from Latin stagnum (“a pool”). Compare stagnant, stagnate.

verb/stæŋk/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/staŋk/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/stɛŋk/New-Zealand/stæŋk/US
  1. To dam up; to block the flow of water or other liquid.

  2. To pack in tightly.

    broadly
  3. To seal off an area of the mine in which a fire has started.

    broadly
Where this word comes from

From Old French estanc, (French étang), from Latin stagnum (“a pool”). Compare stagnant, stagnate.

adj/stæŋk/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/staŋk/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/stɛŋk/New-Zealand/stæŋk/US
  1. Weak; worn out.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Old French estanc, or Italian stanco. See stanch (adjective).

verb/stæŋk/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/staŋk/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/stɛŋk/New-Zealand/stæŋk/US
  1. To surround or guard.

verb/stæŋk/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/staŋk/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/stɛŋk/New-Zealand/stæŋk/US
  1. To trample.

    Cornwall
  2. To stumble or lurch.

    Cornwall
verb/stæŋk/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/staŋk/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/stɛŋk/New-Zealand/stæŋk/US
  1. To cause (the udders) to become blocked and inflamed from lack of milking.

verb/stæŋk/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/staŋk/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/stɛŋk/New-Zealand/stæŋk/US
  1. simple past of stink

    form-of · past
Where this word comes from

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

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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.