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skunk . In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
skunk , but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
skunk in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
skunk you have here. The definition of the word
skunk will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
skunk , as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
A striped skunk , Mephitis mephitis .
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From an unattested Southern New England Algonquian word, cognate with Abenaki segôgw, segonku ( “ he who squirts (musk) / urinates ” ) , from Proto-Algonquian *šeka·kwa , from *šek- ( “ to urinate ” ) . Doublet of Chicago .
Noun
skunk (plural skunks )
Any of various small mammals , of the family Mephitidae , native to North and Central America, having a glossy black with a white coat and two musk glands at the base of the tail for emitting a noxious smell as a defensive measure.
1634 , William Wood, “Of the Beasts that Live on the Land”, in New Englands Prospect. A True, Lively, and Experimentall Description of that Part of America, Commonly Called New England; , London: Tho Cotes , for Iohn Bellamie , , →OCLC , 1st part, pages 22–23 :The beaſts of offence be Squunckes , Ferrets, Foxes, vvhoſe impudence ſometimes drives them to the good vvives Hen rooſt, to fill their Paunch: ſome of theſe be blacke; their furre is of much eſteeme.
( slang , derogatory , dated ) A despicable person.
( slang , derogatory , dated ) Anything very bad; a stinker .
1987 , English Journal , volume 76 , numbers 5-8 , page 52 :On the other hand, many critics contend that in terms of literary quality, many of the multiple-storyline books are true skunks .
( slang ) A walkover victory in sports or board games, as when the opposing side is unable to score.
Coordinate term: shutout
( cribbage ) A win by thirty or more points. (A double skunk is sixty or more, a triple skunk ninety or more.)
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations
animal
Abenaki: segôgw
Albanian: qelbës (sq) m
Algonquin: cigàg
Apache:
Western Apache: golízhi , golízhi
Arabic: ظَرِبَان m ( ẓaribān )
Hijazi Arabic: ظِرْبان m ( ḍirbān )
Arapaho: xoo , xou
Arikara: niWIt
Armenian: սկունս (hy) ( skuns ) , ժանտաքիս (hy) ( žantakʻis )
Atakapa: šikitiš
Ayautla Mazatec: tjiuxikja
Aymara: añuthaya (ay)
Azerbaijani: skuns , iyverən porsuq , qoxarca
Basque: mofeta (eu)
Belarusian: скунс m ( skuns )
Breton: skoñs m
Bulgarian: скункс m ( skunks )
Carrier: hoonliz
Catalan: mofeta (ca) f
Cebuano: milô
Cherokee: ᏗᎵ ( dili ) , ᏗᎳ ( dila )
Cheyenne: xāō'o
Chickasaw: koni
Chinese:
Cantonese: 臭鼬 ( cau3 jau6 )
Mandarin: 臭鼬 (zh) ( chòuyòu )
Chitimacha: kištˀeˀe
Choctaw: konih
Comanche: pohniʔatsi̱
Cree: ᓯᑳᐠ ( sikaak )
Creek: kono
Czech: skunk (cs) m
Danish: skunk c , stinkdyr n
Dogrib: nǫtsı̨
Dutch: stinkdier (nl) n
Erzya: чинебача ( čińebača )
Esperanto: mefito
Estonian: skunk (et) , vinukloom
Faroese: stinkdýr n
Finnish: haisunäätä (fi) , skunkki (fi)
Fox: shekâkwa
French: mouffette (fr) f , sconse (fr) m , putois (fr) m
Galician: mofeta (gl) f
Georgian: სკუნსი ( sḳunsi ) , მყრალა ( mq̇rala )
German: Stinktier (de) n , ( chiefly biology ) Skunk (de) m
Greek: μεφίτιδα (el) f ( mefítida )
Gros Ventre: θouu
Guaraní: jaguane
Hawaiian: ponī
Hebrew: בּוֹאֵשׁ (he) m ( boésh )
Hindi: स्कंक (hi) m ( skaṅk )
Hungarian: bűzösborz (hu)
Icelandic: skunkur m
Ido: mofeto (io)
Indonesian: sigung (id)
Ineseño: taxama
Interlingua: moffetta , skunk
Irish: scúnc f
Isthmus Zapotec: beʼteʼ
Italian: moffetta (it) f , puzzola (it) f
Japanese: スカンク (ja) ( sukanku )
Kashaya: nupʰeˑ
Kazakh: сасықиісті ( sasyqiıstı )
Kickapoo: sekaakwa
Korean: 스컹크 (ko) ( seukeongkeu )
Kyrgyz: сасык кашкулак ( sasık kaşkulak )
Lakota: maká
Lao: ພຽງພອນເໝັນ ( phīang phǭn men ) , ແມວຂົ້ວໂລກ ( mǣu khūa lōk ) , ມູເຟັດ ( mū fet ) , ສະກັງ ( sa kang )
Latvian: skunkss m
Lithuanian: skunkas m
Macedonian: твор m ( tvor )
Malay: skunk
Manx: breinnag
Maricopa: milxwe
Menominee: seka·k
Mi'kmaq: apigjilu anim , apugjilu anim
Miami: šikaakwa
Mingrelian: სკუნსი ( sḳunsi )
Mohegan-Pequot: skôks
Mongolian: өмхий хүрэн ( ömxii xüren )
Nahuatl: epatl (nah) , yepatl (nah)
Nanticoke: laa!waa!quepuss
Natchez: šic
Navajo: gólízhii
Nawathinehena: saoθ
Neapolitan: cajorda f
Norwegian: skunk m , stinkdyr n
Obispeño: tqema
Occitan: mofeta (oc) f
Ojibwe: zhigaag
Old Tupi: sarigûeîa , sarigûé
Pashto: ژګاګ (ps) ( žigâg )
Pawnee: riwit
Plains Apache: dookats’į́łtshesá
Polish: skunks (pl) m
Portuguese: cangambá m , gambá (pt) m , doninha-fedorenta f ( Portugal )
Quapaw: mą́ka
Quechua: añas
Romanian: sconcs (ro) m
Romansch: scunc m
Russian: скунс (ru) m ( skuns ) , воню́чка (ru) f ( vonjúčka )
Salinan: šowá
San Jerónimo Tecóatl Mazatec: xíkjá
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: твор m
Roman: tvor (sh) m
Seri: sliitxcoj
Shona: chidembo
Shuswap: sts̓ípeq
Slovak: skunk m
Slovene: dihur (sl) m
Southern Ohlone: yaawi ( big )
Spanish: mofeta (es) f ( Spain ) , zorro hediondo m ( Costa Rica ) , zorrillo (es) m ( El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua ) , chingue (es) ( Chile )
Swahili: kinyegere class 7 /8
Swedish: skunk (sv) c , stinkdjur n
Taos: kùylulúna
Tatar: ала көзән ( ala közän )
Thai: สกังก์ ( sà-gáng )
Tibetan: ཏེ་ལོ ( te lo )
Turkish: kokarca (tr)
Ukrainian: скунс m ( skuns )
Unami: shkakw
Uyghur: سېسىق كۈزەن ( sësiq küzen )
Uzbek: kokarca (uz) , skuns , sassiq koʻzani
Ventureño: taxama
Vietnamese: chồn hôi
Welsh: drewgi m
Western Ojibwa: sikāk
Wolof: jab bi
Yiddish: טכויר m ( tkhoyr )
Yokuts:
Buena Vista Yokuts: tsox ( Tulamni, Hometwoli )
Southern Valley Yokuts: cox ( Yawelmani )
Zazaki: boyınce , boyğanık
Verb
skunk (third-person singular simple present skunks , present participle skunking , simple past and past participle skunked )
( transitive , slang ) To defeat so badly as to prevent any opposing points.
I skunked him at cards.
We fished all day but the lake skunked us.
( cribbage ) To win by thirty or more points.
( intransitive , of beer ) To go bad , to spoil .
See also
Etymology 2
Blend of skinhead + punk , influenced by the animal (Etymology 1).
Noun
skunk (plural skunks )
A member of a hybrid skinhead and punk subculture .
2006 , Pam Nilan, Carles Feixa, Global Youth?: Hybrid Identities, Plural Worlds , page 192 :In the early 1980s, certain ex-punks joined them, becoming 'skunks' – a hybrid subculture of skinheads and punks.
2011 , Gerard DeGroot (quoting Brown), Seventies Unplugged
mods, skins, suedes, smoothies, punks, skunks , rude boys, soul boys and headbangers
Etymology 3
From skunkweed ( “ certain highly aromatic marijuana ” ) .
Noun
skunk (countable and uncountable , plural skunks )
( slang ) Clipping of skunkweed ( marijuana ) .
Any of the strains of hybrids of Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica that may have THC levels exceeding those of typical hashish .
Czech
Noun
skunk m anim
skunk ( animal )
Declension
Declension of skunk (velar masculine animate )
Further reading
“skunk ”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
“skunk ”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
Dutch
Etymology
Borrowed from English skunk .
Pronunciation
IPA (key ) : /skʏŋk/
Hyphenation: skunk
Noun
skunk m (uncountable )
skunk , weed with a high level of THC
Kashubian
Etymology
Borrowed from English skunk .
Pronunciation
IPA (key ) : /ˈskɔ̃k/
Rhymes: -ɔ̃k
Syllabification: skunk
Noun
skunk m animal (female equivalent szkùnka )
( Canada, United States ) skunk
Further reading
Stanislow Frymark (2020 ) “skunk ”, in Kashubian Language in Canada, the USA and New Zealand; Lexical Interferences in Kashubian Language in Canada, the USA and New Zealand , Zómk Zôbòrsczi, →ISBN
Swedish
Etymology
Borrowed from English skunk .
Pronunciation
Noun
skunk c
a skunk
Synonym: stinkdjur
Declension
References