starkers

English

Etymology

• "naked": British slang, from 1923, combining (like a popular etymology) two meanings of stark (“strong, utterly; barren”) with stark naked, which is from Old English steort (“tail”), referring to the tail-end (as in butt-naked).
• "crazy": stark (“shortening of stark raving mad”) +‎ -ers

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA^(key): /ˈstɑːkəz/
• (US) enPR: stärʹkərz, IPA^(key): /ˈstɑɹkɚz/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Adjective

starkers (not comparable)

1. (chiefly British, slang) Completely nude.

   Entering the bathroom, I found Bill there, still starkers after his bath.

2. (informal) Stark raving mad.

Synonyms

• see Thesaurus:nude

Antonyms

• dressed

Derived terms

• Harry starkers

 

Related terms

• stark bollock naked

Translations

completely nude — see also stark naked

• Dutch: spiernaakt (nl), moedernaakt (nl), puitebloot
• French: à poil (fr)
• German: splitternackt (de)
• Greek: τσίτσιδος (el) (tsítsidos)
• Japanese: すっぽんぽん (ja) (supponpon)
• Polish: goły jak święty turecki (pl), golusieńki (pl), w czym Pan Bóg stworzył, w stroju Adama (pl)
• Swedish: spritt språngande naken, nakenfis (sv)

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “stark”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Strakers