pimp

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɪmp/
• Rhymes: -ɪmp

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Origin unknown. Perhaps from French pimpant (“smart, sparkish”) or German Pimpf (“boy, youth, young squirt”). The Old English near-synonym was rendered by Old English forspennend (literally “solicitor”).

Noun

pimp (plural pimps)

1. Someone who solicits customers for prostitution and acts as manager for a group of prostitutes; a pander.
   • 2006, Lily Allen, Iyiola Babalola, Darren Lewis, Tommy McCook (lyrics and music), “LDN”, in Alright, Still, performed by Lily Allen:

     A fella looking dapper / And he's sittin' with a slapper / Then I see it's a pimp / And his crack whore

   • 2018, Brendon Urie, Michael Angelakos, Sam Hollander, Morgan Kibby, Jake Sinclair, Dillon Francis (lyrics and music), “Hey Look Ma, I Made It”, in Pray for the Wicked‎^[1], performed by Panic! at the Disco:

     All my life, been hustling / And tonight is my appraisal / 'Cause I'm a hooker selling songs / And my pimp's a record label

2. (African-American Vernacular, slang) A man who can easily attract women.

Derived terms

• gorilla pimp
• pimp cup
• pimpdom
• pimp hand
• pimphood
• pimpmobile
• pimpness
• pimpship
• pimp slap, pimp-slap
• pimp steak
• pimp stick
• sugar pimp

 

Translations

prostitution solicitor

• Afrikaans: pooier, hoerboer
• Albanian: tutor prostitutash m
• Arabic: قَوَّاد m (qawwād)

  Egyptian Arabic: عرص m (ʕarṣ), معرص m (míʕarraṣ)

  South Levantine Arabic: عرص m (ʕarṣ), قَوَّاد m (gawwād)

• Armenian: կավատ (hy) (kavat)
• Azerbaijani: oğraş (az)
• Belarusian: сутэнёр m (sutenjór), зво́днік m (zvódnik), зво́дніца f (zvódnica)
• Bengali: কোটনা (bn) (kōṭona)
• Bikol Central: bugaw
• Bulgarian: сво́дник (bg) m (svódnik), сво́дница f (svódnica), сутеньо́р m (sutenjór)
• Burmese: ဖါခေါင်း (hpahkaung:)
• Catalan: proxeneta
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 姑爺仔／姑爷仔 (gu¹ je⁴ zai²), 龜公／龟公 (gwai¹ gung¹)

  Hokkien: 三七仔 (zh-min-nan) (sam-chhit-á), 牽猴的／牵猴的 (khan-kâu-ê), 牽猴仔／牵猴仔 (khan-kâu-á)

  Mandarin: 皮條客／皮条客 (zh) (pítiáokè), 老鴇／老鸨 (zh) (lǎobǎo) (female), 媽媽桑／妈妈桑 (zh) (māmāsāng) (female, Taiwan)

• Czech: pasák (cs) m, kuplíř (cs) m
• Danish: alfons (da)
• Dutch: pooier (nl)
• Esperanto: prostituisto
• Estonian: kupeldaja, sutenöör
• Finnish: sutenööri (fi), parittaja (fi)
• French: souteneur (fr), maquereau (fr) m, mac (fr) m, proxénète (fr)
• Galician: bagaxeiro m
• Georgian: მამაშა (mamaša)
• German: Zuhälter (de) m, Lude (de) m, Kuppler (de) m
• Greek: προαγωγός (el) m or f (proagogós), μαστροπός (el) m or f (mastropós), σωματέμπορος (el) m or f (somatémporos), νταβατζής (el) m (ntavatzís)

  Ancient: μαστροπός m or f (mastropós), μάτρυλλος m (mátrullos)

• Hebrew: סַרְסוּר (he) m (sarsúr)
• Hindi: दलाल (hi) m (dalāl), कुटनी (hi) f (kuṭnī) (female)
• Hungarian: strici (hu), kerítő (hu), futtató (hu), lányfuttató
• Icelandic: melludólgur m, hórumangari m
• Indonesian: germo (id), mucikari (id)
• Irish: máistir striapach m
• Italian: magnaccia (it) m, pappone (it) m, protettore (it) m, ruffiano (it) m, lenone (it) m, prosseneta (it) m, paraninfo (it) m
• Japanese: 女衒 (ぜげん, zegen), ポン引き (ポンびき, ponbiki)
• Kazakh: жеңгетай (jeñgetai)
• Khmer: មេអណ្ដើក (km) (mei ʼɑndaək)
• Korean: 뚜쟁이 (ko) (ttujaeng'i), 뚜 (ko) (ttu), 기둥서방 (ko) (gidungseobang), 포주(抱主) (ko) (poju)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: gewad (ku) m, pêzeweng (ku) m, teres (ku) m

• Ladino: rufyano m, rufyana f
• Lao: ຊາຍານຸຊີບ (sā nyā nu sīp), ແມງດາ (mǣng dā) ("water cockroach")
• Latin: lēnō m, lena f
• Latvian: suteners m
• Lithuanian: suteneris m, sąvadautojas m
• Macedonian: сводник m (svodnik), подведувач m (podveduvač), макро m (makro)
• Malay: alku, barua, jaruman, ketolol, muncikari, pinang muda
• Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: зууч (mn) (zuuč)

• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: maquereau m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hallik m

• Old English: forspennend m
• Pashto: بغری m (bağaray)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: قَوَّاد (fa) (ğavvâd), جاکِش (fa) (jâkeš), جابیز (jâbiz), کُس‌کِش (fa) (kos-keš) (vulgar)

• Polish: alfons (pl) m, sutener (pl) m
• Portuguese: cafetão (pt) m (Brazil), proxeneta (pt) m, safado (pt) m, chulo (pt) m, alcoviteiro (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਦੱਲਾ m (dallā)
• Romani: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: proxenet (ro) m, pește (ro) m
• Russian: сутенёр (ru) m (sutenjór), сво́дник (ru) m (svódnik), сво́дница (ru) f (svódnica), сво́дня (ru) f (svódnja), кот (ru) (kot, literally “tomcat”) (slang)
• Scottish Gaelic: drùisear m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сводник m, пословодник m

  Roman: svodnik (sh) m, poslovodnik m

• Slovak: pasák m, kupliar m
• Slovene: zvodník (sl) m
• Spanish: chulo (es) m, proxeneta (es), rufián (es) m, cafiche (es) m, cabrón (es) m, padrote m, alcahuete (es) m, lenón m
• Swahili: buzi
• Swedish: hallick (sv) c, sutenör (sv) c
• Tagalog: bugaw, kuwekong, alkahuwete, tita-tita
• Tajik: қаввод (qavvod)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: తార్పుడుగాడు (tārpuḍugāḍu), (Telangana, vulgar) బాడ్కావ్ (bāḍkāv)
• Thai: แมงดา (mɛɛng-daa)
• Turkish: pezevenk (tr), kavat (tr), deyyus (tr), kurumsak (tr)
• Ukrainian: сутене́р m (sutenér), зві́дник m (zvídnyk), зві́дниця f (zvídnycja)
• Urdu: دَلال m (dalāl), کُٹْنی f (kuṭnī) (female)
• Uzbek: dayus (uz), sutenyor, dalla (uz), qoʻshmachi (uz)
• Vietnamese: kẻ mối lái, ma cô (vi)
• Volapük: (♂♀) lupärodan, (♂) hilupärodan, (♀) jilupärodan
• Welsh: pimp m, puteinfeistr m (literary)
• Yiddish: קאַדעט m (kadet) (slang)

Verb

pimp (third-person singular simple present pimps, present participle pimping, simple past and past participle pimped)

1. (intransitive) To act as a procurer of prostitutes; to pander.
2. (transitive) To prostitute someone.

   The smooth-talking, tall man with heavy gold bracelets claimed he could pimp anyone.

3. (transitive, African-American Vernacular, slang) To excessively customize something, especially a vehicle.

   Synonyms: pimp out, pimp up; mack out

   Coordinate terms: level up, max out, spec out, spec up, trick out

   You pimped out that motorcycle f'real, dawg.

4. (transitive, medicine, slang) To ask progressively harder and ultimately unanswerable questions of a resident or medical student (said of a senior member of the medical staff).
   • 2004, Robert A. Blume, Arthur W. Combs, The Continuing American Revolution: A Psychological Perspective, page 183:

     Only an attending physician can pimp a chief resident; the chief resident and attending can pimp a junior resident; they all three can pimp an intern.

5. (transitive, US, slang) To promote, to tout.

   I gotta show you this sweet website where you can pimp your blog and get more readers.

6. (US, slang) To persuade, smooth talk or trick another into doing something for your benefit.

   I pimped her out of $2,000 and she paid for the entire stay at the Bahamas.

Synonyms

• (prostitute someone): hustle, whore out; see also Thesaurus:pimp out
• (promote, tout): pitch, promote, tout, spruik

Derived terms

• pimp off
• pimp out
• pimp up

 

Translations

to act as procurer of prostitutes

• Arabic: قَادَ (qāda), قَوَّدَ (qawwada)
• Bulgarian: своднича (svodniča)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 拉皮條／拉皮条 (zh) (lā pítiáo), 拉客 (zh) (lākè)

• Finnish: parittaa (fi), toimia sutenöörinä
• French: prostituer (fr), maquereller (fr), maquereauter (fr)
• Greek: εκπορνεύω (el) (ekpornévo), μαστροπεύω (el) (mastropévo)
• Hungarian: kerít (hu), kerítőként/striciként ténykedik/működik/tevékenykedik
• Italian: procacciare (it)
• Persian: کس‌کشی کردن (kos-keši kardan), جاکشی کردن (jâkeši kardan)
• Portuguese: cafetinar, alcovitar (pt)
• Russian: сво́дничать (ru) impf (svódničatʹ)
• Spanish: putear (es), proxenentizar, encafichar
• Turkish: pezevenklik yapmak

to prostitute someone

• Finnish: tehdä jostakusta prostituoitu
• French: prostituer (fr)
• German: prostituieren (de)
• Greek: εκπορνεύω (el) (ekpornévo)
• Italian: prostituire

to excessively customize

• Finnish: tuunata (fi), pimpata
• Italian: risistemare
• Spanish: tunear (es)

medicine:to ask progressively harder and ultimately unanswerable questions of a resident or medical student

• Finnish: tentata (fi), kuulustella (fi)

to promote, tout

• Finnish: puffata

to persuade or trick another into doing something for your benefit

• Finnish: taivutella (fi)

Adjective

pimp

1. (slang) excellent, fashionable, stylish

See also

• pimping (adjective)
• player
• playa
• madam

Further reading

• Double-Tongued Dictionary definition

Etymology 2

From Brythonic numerals, from Proto-Brythonic *pɨmp.

Cognate with Welsh pump, Cornish pymp, Breton pemp. Doublet of cinque, five, Pompeii, punch (“beverage”), and ponzu.

Numeral

pimp

2. (Cumbria and Old Welsh) Five in Cumbrian and Welsh sheep counting.

See also

• (Borrowdale sheep counting) yan, tyan, tethera, methera, pimp, sethera, lethera, hovera, dovera, dick, yan-a-dick, tyan-a-dick, tethera-a-dick, methera-a-dick, bumfit, yan-a-bumfit, tyan-a-bumfit, tethera-a-bumfit, methera-bumfit, giggot

References

• Wright, Peter (1995) Cumbrian Chat, Dalesman Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 7
• Deakin, Michael A.B. (2007) Leigh-Lancaster, David, editor, The Name of the Number‎^[2], Australian Council for Educational Research, →ISBN, retrieved 2008-05-17, page 75
• Varvogli, Aliki (2002) Annie Proulx's The Shipping News: A Reader's Guide‎^[3], Continuum International Publishing Group, →ISBN, retrieved 2008-05-17, pages 24-25

Anagrams

• impp.