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English
Etymology
The word thunk is a humorous, nonstandard past participle of think.
Pronunciation
Phrase
who would have thunk it
- (colloquial, sometimes sarcastic) A rhetorical question used to express incredulity: who would have guessed it?; who would have thought that would happen?
- Synonym: who would have thought it
1895 September, Frances Cora Perce, “A Sonata of the Woods”, in W. S. B. Mathews, editor, Music. A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Art, Science, Technic and Literature of Music, volume VIII, Chicago, Ill.: The Music Magazine Publishing Company , →OCLC, pages 478–479:He stayed until he saw she had recovered her self possession, then he left, telegraphed to Mr. Hinsdale of Helen's safe arrival—always the same thoughtful fellow—and then went home and wrote sonnets to his lady love. "Who'd have thunk it of 'im?"
1906, Ralph Henry Barbour, “In the Rowing-room”, in Captain of the Crew, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton and Company, page 147:"Hello, Muggs!" he cried, vainly trying to bestow a pat upon that unquiet animal. "Say, Trevor, hasn't he grown? He's twice the size he was when you got him!" / "It's a way puppies have." / "You don't say so? Who'd have thunk it! […]"
1916 February 15, “Bodemann’s Aphorisms”, in Romaine Pierson, editor, The Practical Druggist and Pharmaceutical Review of Reviews, volume XXXIV, number 2, New York, N.Y.: Published by Romaine Pierson, , →OCLC, page 31, column 1:Think of it, the N.A.R.D. Journal has included in its propaganda work a forcible crusade against long speeches! Wonders never cease; who would have "thunk it"? Is brevity a lost art? With all the ridicule, satire, hissing and rotten eggs showered upon long windedness, it still remains with us.
1988, Marcia Ann Gillespie, “Something to Celebrate: Thanks to Jesse Jackson, We are Emerging from the Reagan Years with a New Willingness to Pull Together Again”, in Ms., volume 17, New York, N.Y.: Liberty Media for Women, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 22, column 1:Who would have thunk it? Had anyone told me some 10 years ago that I would be alive to see a black person run for President of the United States and be taken seriously, I would have asked what they were tripping on.
2001, Stephen King, Dreamcatcher, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, →ISBN; 1st Gallery Books trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Gallery Books, January 2018, →ISBN, page 462:From somewhere in their well-fed, timorous, it-can't-happen-here ranks, a Spartacus had arisen—who would have thunk it?
Alternative forms
Translations
who would have guessed it?
See also