dank

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dæŋk/
• (æ-tensing) IPA^(key): /deɪŋk/
• Rhymes: -æŋk

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English danke (“wet, damp; dampness, moisture”), probably from North Germanic, related to Swedish dank (“marshy spot”), Icelandic dökk (“pool”), Old Norse dǫkk (“pit, depression”), from Proto-Germanic *dankwaz (“dark”). However, some trace it to a West Germanic source such as Dutch damp (“vapor”) or Middle High German damph, both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dampaz (“smoke, steam, vapor”).

Adjective

dank (comparative danker, superlative dankest)

1. Dark, damp and humid.

   The dank cave was chilly and spooky.

   • 1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, Poems of Mr. John Milton, , London: Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, , →OCLC:

     Now that the fields are dank and ways are mire.

   • 1835, Richard Chenevix Trench, The Story of Justin Martyr:

     Cheerless watches on the cold, dank ground.

   • 1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section XXII:

     Who were the strugglers, what war did they wage, / Whose savage trample thus could pad the dank / Soil to a plash? [...]

   • 2022 November 30, Nick Brodrick, “Pride and innovation shine at St Pancras”, in RAIL, number 971, page 69:

     It's a world away from the dank and uninviting St Pancras that British Rail wanted to tear down in the 1960s.

2. (figuratively, of marijuana) Moist and sticky, (by extension) highly potent.

   That was dank bud.

3. (slang, often ironic) Great, awesome.
   • 2018, January 5, Rick Wilson, “Bannon Banished for Telling Truths About Trump as MAGA Monsters Turn on Each Other”, in The Daily Beast‎:

     His house organ Breitbart and a host of Trump-right websites and news outlets sang praises to his dank genius.

Derived terms

• danken
• dankly
• dankness
• dank meme

Translations

Noun

dank (uncountable)

1. Moisture; humidity; water.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:

     Yet oft they quit | The dank, and rising on siff pennons, tow'r | the mid aerial sky

2. (slang) Strong, high-quality cannabis.
   • 2015, Scott Jacques, Richard Wright, Code of the Suburb, page 9:

     Smoking mids will get you about three times higher than shwag, and same for dank—it'll be about six times higher than smoking some mids.

Etymology 2

From Middle English danken, from the adjective (see above).

Verb

dank (third-person singular simple present danks, present participle danking, simple past and past participle danked)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To moisten, dampen; used of mist, dew etc.

References

Etymology 3

Alternative forms

• danek

Noun

dank (plural danks)

1. (historical) A small silver coin formerly used in Persia.

Anagrams

• D. Kan., N. Dak., NKDA, kDNA, kand, kdna

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɑŋk/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dank
• Rhymes: -ɑŋk

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch danc, from Old Dutch *thank, from Proto-Germanic *þankaz.

Noun

dank m (uncountable)

1. gratitude, thanks
2. show/token of recognition
3. reward, recompense

Synonyms

• dankbetoon
• dankbetuiging
• dankzegging

Antonyms

• ondank

Derived terms

• danken
• dankbaar
• dankloos
• dankwoord
• dankzeggen
• plasdank
• stank voor dank

Descendants

• Negerhollands: dank, danki, daṅki
  • → Virgin Islands Creole: danki, dankie (archaic)
• → Papiamentu: danki
• → Sranan Tongo: danki, tangi
  • → Saramaccan: tangí

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

dank

1. inflection of danken:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

German

Etymology

Cognate with danken and Dutch dank; compare the Latin grātia.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aŋk

Preposition

dank (+ genitive or dative)

1. thanks to, because of

   Dank seiner Arbeit hat er genug Geld zum Leben.

   Thanks to his work he has enough money to live.

Usage notes

• Dank used to be more common with the dative, but today the genitive is more predominant.
• Personal pronouns, however, normally take the dative, although the genitive is possible in very elevated usage.

Related terms

• danken
• bedanken
• Dank m, Undank

References

Further reading

• “dank” in Duden online
• “dank” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dank/,

Noun

dank m inan

1. tax, fine, levy, duty

Declension

Further reading

• Starosta, Manfred (1999) “dank”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

Luxembourgish

Verb

dank

1. second-person singular imperative of danken