hunker
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hunker¹
- /ˈhʌŋkə/ UK
- /ˈhʌŋkɚ/ US
Rhymes with -ʌŋkə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
Originally Scottish. Origin uncertain, but probably of Germanic origin, perhaps *hunk- a nasalised variant of *huk- (compare Scots hoonk, hounk, variants of huk, hok (“to squat, crouch”); Scots hocker (“to crouch down, hunker”)), all of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse huka (“to crouch”), from Proto-Germanic *hūkan- (“to squat”), from *hūkkan-, back-formed from the iterative *huk(k)ōn-, from Proto-Indo-European *kuk-néh₂, from *kewk- (“to curve, bend”) (also the source of high).
Probable cognates include Old Norse húka, Dutch huiken, and German hocken.
hunker²
- /ˈhʌŋkə/ UK
- /ˈhʌŋkɚ/ US
Rhymes with -ʌŋkə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
Unknown
noun hunkers
- A political conservative.
Hunker³
proper noun Hunkers
- A surname
Translations
Every language
verb To crouch, squat or lie down
| Español | encuclillarse, acurrucarse |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | しゃがむ shagamu |
| 中文 | 蹲下 dūnxià |
| Português | ficar de cócoras |
| Français | s'accroupir |
| Deutsch | hocken, ducken, kauern |
| Русский | сиде́ть на ко́рточках sidétʹ na kórtočkax |
Talk about this word "hunker." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/hunker. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. hunker. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/hunker "hunker." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/hunker.Cite this
@misc{hunker_2026,
title = {hunker},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/hunker},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
