skunky

English

Etymology

From skunk +‎ -y; skunks are known for their unpleasant odor. For the beer sense, compare skunk (“to go bad”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ʌŋki

Adjective

skunky (comparative skunkier, superlative skunkiest)

1. Having an unpleasant odor.
2. Having a smell of skunk (a type of marijuana).
   • 2023, Brandon Taylor, The Late Americans, Jonathan Cape, page 116:

     Sure enough, he had the skunky odor of marijuana.

3. (of beer) Spoiled, bad.
   • 2004, Harold McGee, chapter 13, in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, Scribner, →ISBN:

     One American brewer with trademark clear bottles developed a modified hop extract that’s free of the vulnerable hop acid, and this prevents its beer from going skunky.