skunk

English

Wikipedia

A striped skunk.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /skʌŋk/, X-SAMPA: /skVNk/
• Rhymes: -ʌŋk

Etymology 1

At first spelt squunck, from the Abenaki name for the animals, segôgw, segonku (“he who squirts / urinates”), from Proto-Algonquian *šeka:kwa, from *šek- (“to urinate”) (Abenaki seg-) + *-a:kw (“fox”) (Abenaki (w)ôkw(ses)).

Noun

skunk (plural skunks)

1. 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.
2. (slang) A despicable person.
3. (slang) Short for skunkweed (marijuana).
4. (slang) A walkover victory in sports or board games, as when the opposing side is unable to score. Compare shutout.
5. (cribbage) A win by 30 or more points.

Derived terms

• drunk as a skunk
• skunky

Translations

animal

• Algonquin: cigàg
• Arikara: níwit
• Atakapa: šikitiš
• Ayautla Mazatec: tjiuxikja
• Carrier: hoonliz
• Catalan: mofeta (ca) f
• Chickasaw: koni
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 臭鼬 (cmn) (chòuyòu)

• Chitimacha: kištˀeˀe
• Choctaw: konih
• Chumash:

  Inezeño: taxama

  Obispeño: tqema

  Ventureño: taxama

• Comanche: pohniʔatsi̱
• Creek: kono
• Czech: skunk (cs) m
• Dogrib: nǫtsı̨
• Dutch: stinkdier (nl)
• Esperanto: mefito
• Estonian: skunk, vinuk
• Finnish: haisunäätä (fi), skunkki (fi)
• Fox: shekâkwa
• French: moufette (fr) f, sconse (fr) m
• German: Stinktier (de) n, Skunk (de) m
• Greek: μεφίτιδα (el) (mefítida) f
• Hebrew: בואש (boesh) m
• Hungarian: bűzös borz (hu)
• Icelandic: skunkur (is) m
• Indonesian: sigung (id)
• Isthmus Zapotec: beʼteʼ
• Italian: moffetta (it) f

• Japanese: スカンク (ja) (sukanku)
• Kashaya: nupʰeˑ
• Kickapoo: sekaakwa
• Lakota: maká
• Macedonian: твор m
• Maricopa: milxwe
• Natchez: šic
• Navajo: gólízhii
• Norwegian: skunk (no) m, stinkdyr (no) n
• Ojibwe: zhigaag
• Oneida: aní·tas
• Pawnee: ríwit
• Plains Apache: dookats’į́łtshesá
• Polish: skunks (pl) m
• Portuguese: cangambá (pt) m, gambá (pt) m
• Quapaw: mą́ka
• Romansch: scunc m
• Russian: скунс (ru) (skuns) m
• Salinan: šowá
• San Jerónimo Tecóatl Mazatec: xíkjá
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: твор m

  Roman: tvor m

• Seri: sliitxcoj
• Shuswap: sts̓ípeq
• Slovene: dihur (sl) m
• Spanish: mofeta f (Spain), zorro hediondo m (Costa Rica), zorrillo m (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua)
• Swedish: skunk (sv) c
• Taos: kùylulúna
• Turkish: kokarca (tr)
• Western Ojibwa: sikāk
• Wolof: jab bi (wo)
• Yokuts: cʰox, čʰox, sox

Verb

skunk (third-person singular simple present skunks, present participle skunking, simple past and past participle skunked)

1. To defeat so badly as to prevent any opposing points.

   I skunked him at cards.

   We fished all day but the lake skunked us.

2. (cribbage) To win by 30 or more points.
3. (intransitive, of beer) to go bad, to spoil

See also

• Mephitidae
• Mephitis
• Spilogale
• Conepatus
• polecat

Etymology 2

Blend of skinhead and punk, influenced by the animal (Etymology 1).

Noun

skunk (plural skunks)

1. 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 […]

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Swedish

Noun

skunk c

1. a skunk

Declension

Declension of skunk

	singular		plural
Common	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	skunk	skunken	skunkar	skunkarna
genitive	skunks	skunkens	skunkars	skunkarnas