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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

tonk.

An illegal immigrant of any country.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun

  1. An illegal immigrant of any country.

    US · derogatory · slang
Where this word comes from

Origins are unknown, but definitely predate the use of metal flashlights, contrary to the most quoted description of origin. It is probable that the origin relates to Chinese immigration, as the first law to restrict immigration from a particular country was enacted in 1882 to limit the numbers of Chinese coming to the United States. It is said that many of the illegal immigrants made their way to the US via the Gulf of Tonkin area of what is now Vietnam. It is also possible that the term is related to the Chinese "tong" mob.

noun

  1. An item or items of value, or of perceived value, especially for sale.

    countable · slang · uncountable
    How much tonk have we got to shift?
noun

  1. A matching card game, combining features of knock rummy and conquian.

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

Compare Tagalog tong-its, Ilocano tong-it, Pangasinan tung-it.

intj

  1. Representing a sound produced by knocking on something hollow.

Where this word comes from

Onomatopoeic.

noun

  1. A sound produced by knocking on something hollow.

  2. A resounding strike of the ball; a powerful hit of the ball with the bat.

    colloquial
Where this word comes from

Onomatopoeic.

verb

  1. To knock or strike (a ball) so that it flies through the air.

    colloquial · transitive
Where this word comes from

Onomatopoeic.

noun

  1. A tank.

    slang
Where this word comes from

Alteration of tank.

adj

  1. Big, muscular, massive.

    UK · slang
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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.