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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

whack.

The sound of a heavy strike.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈwæk//ˈʍæk/[ˈw̥æk]
  1. The sound of a heavy strike.

    countable · uncountable
  2. The strike itself.

    countable · uncountable
  3. The stroke itself, regardless of its successful impact.

    countable · uncountable
  4. An attempt, a chance, a turn, a go, originally an attempt to beat someone or something.

    countable · slang · uncountable
    C'mon. Take a whack at it.
    40 bucks a whack.
  5. A share, a portion, especially a full share or large portion.

    countable · dated · uncountable
  6. A whack-up: a division of an amount into separate whacks, a divvying up.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  7. A deal, an agreement.

    US · countable · obsolete · uncountable
    It's a whack!
  8. A harmful outcome or repercussion.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  9. PCP, phencyclidine (also wack).

    dated · uncountable
  10. The backslash, ⟨ \ ⟩.

    countable · slang · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Uncertain. Originally Scottish; probably onomatopoeic, but compare Middle English thakken, from Old English þaccian (whence Modern thwack by conflation with whack). Sense 6 of the verb is likely a semantic loan from Malay hentam (“to strike; to do something carelessly”).

verb/ˈwæk//ˈʍæk/[ˈw̥æk]
  1. To hit, slap or strike.

    transitive
    The bat whacked the baseball.
  2. To assassinate, bump off.

    slang · transitive
  3. To share or parcel out (often with up).

    slang · transitive
    to whack the spoils of a robbery
  4. To beat convincingly; to thrash.

  5. To surpass; to better.

    UK
  6. To attempt something despite not knowing how to do it; to take on a task spontaneously and carelessly without planning.

    Singapore · Singlish
  7. To eat something hurriedly.

    Singapore · Singlish
Where this word comes from

Uncertain. Originally Scottish; probably onomatopoeic, but compare Middle English thakken, from Old English þaccian (whence Modern thwack by conflation with whack). Sense 6 of the verb is likely a semantic loan from Malay hentam (“to strike; to do something carelessly”).

adj/ˈwæk//ˈʍæk/[ˈw̥æk]
  1. Alternative spelling of wack (“annoyingly or disappointingly bad”).

    alt-of · alternative
    That's whack, yo!
Where this word comes from

Uncertain. Originally Scottish; probably onomatopoeic, but compare Middle English thakken, from Old English þaccian (whence Modern thwack by conflation with whack). Sense 6 of the verb is likely a semantic loan from Malay hentam (“to strike; to do something carelessly”).

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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.