overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

wank.

To masturbate.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈwæŋk/Australia, Received-Pronunciation
  1. To masturbate.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · UK · ambitransitive · intransitive · slang
    I was so embarrassed when my mother caught me wanking.
    She wanked me in the morning.
  2. To argue in an inappropriate manner or about pretentious or insubstantial matters; to engage in wank.

    Commonwealth · Internet · Ireland · UK · intransitive · slang · vulgar
Where this word comes from

Origin unknown. First known use as a verb is 1905, as a noun 1948. Perhaps compare regional slang term wang, whang (“to whack or beat”). Compare Dutch wanken (“to move back and forth; move with the hands”).

noun/ˈwæŋk/Australia, Received-Pronunciation
  1. An act of masturbation.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · UK · countable · slang · vulgar
    He’s having a wank!
  2. An undesirable person.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · UK · countable · derogatory · slang · vulgar
    You utter wank! How could you behave like that?
  3. Nonsense, rubbish.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · UK · slang · uncountable · vulgar
    This opera is wank.
    Did you see that thing on Channel 4? Yeah, it was wank.
  4. Ridiculous, circular or inappropriately elaborate argument about something, especially if obnoxious, pretentious or unsubstantial.

    Commonwealth · Internet · Ireland · UK · slang · uncountable · vulgar
  5. Drama, turmoil, or disagreement within a fannish space.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · UK · countable · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Origin unknown. First known use as a verb is 1905, as a noun 1948. Perhaps compare regional slang term wang, whang (“to whack or beat”). Compare Dutch wanken (“to move back and forth; move with the hands”).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

wank has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

wank studiowank workshello, wank

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

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.