junk
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junk¹
- /d͡ʒʌŋk/ UK, US
- /d͡ʒɐŋk/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like junque · Rhymes with -ʌŋk
Where it comes from
From earlier meaning "old refuse from boats and ships", from Middle English junk, jounke, jonk, joynk (“an old cable or rope”, nautical term), sometimes cut into bits and used as caulking; of uncertain origin; perhaps related to join, joint, juncture. Often compared to Middle English junk, jonk, jonke, junck (“a rush; basket made of rushes”), from Old French jonc, from Latin iuncus (“rush, reed”); however, the Oxford English Dictionary finds "no evidence of connexion".
noun junks
-
Miscellaneous items of little value, especially discarded or unwanted items.
This shed is full of junk – will you help me sort it out?
Similar: clutter, cultch, crap, debris, dreck, drek, garbage, gash, junk, litter, pelf, piece of crap
- Material or resources of poor quality or low value, especially resources that lack commercial value. junk food
- Nonsense; gibberish. The student put down junk for answers just to finish his homework more quickly.
- Any narcotic drug, especially heroin. The poor fellow took so much junk into his system he could only weather the greater proportion of his day in that chair with the lamp burning at noon, but in the morning he was magnificent.
-
The genitalia, especially of a male.
I'm talking about everybody getting crunk, crunk / Boys tryin' to touch my junk, junk / Gonna smack him if he getting too drunk, drunk
Similar: anaconda, baloney pony, bald-headed hermit, banana, bird, birdie, bobby, boonga, cack, choad, choda, chode
- Salt beef. My physician has ordered me three pounds of minced salt-junk at every meal .
- Pieces of old cable or cordage, used for making gaskets, mats, swabs, etc., and when picked to pieces, forming oakum for filling the seams of ships.
- A fragment of any solid substance; a thick piece; a chunk. Dear Uncle Sam pervides fer his, An' gives a good-sized junk to all
- An entity with no whole; every part is itself a proper part of something larger.
- Short for junk email I think my last message went into your junk.
verb junks · junking · junked
-
To throw away.
Similar: bin, chuck, chuck away, chuck out, discard, dispose of, ditch, dump, scrap, throw away, throw out, toss
- To find something for very little money (meaning derived from the term junkshop) (On Facebook, a record collector wrote:) "The newest addition to my Annette Hanshaw collection, I junked this beautiful flawless E-copy within walking distance from my house."
- To consume junk food, mainly at a fast-food restaurant. Let's just junk some burgers at McDonald's.
Similar: junk, 86, can, cast aside, cast off, cast away, get rid of, jettison, pitch, shift, throw aside
junk²
- /d͡ʒʌŋk/ UK, US
- /d͡ʒɐŋk/ Australia, New Zealand
Sounds like junque · Rhymes with -ʌŋk
Where it comes from
From Portuguese junco with reinforcement from Dutch jonk, from Arabic جُنْك (junk), from Malay jong, جوڠ, from Javanese ꦗꦺꦴꦁ (jong), from Old Javanese joṅ (“seagoing ship”), probably from Proto-Mon-Khmer *d₂luuŋ ~ *d₂luŋ ~ *d₂luəŋ ~ *d₂ləŋ (“boat”). Doublet of djong.
noun junks
- A Chinese sailing vessel. It was a vessel of about seventy tons burthen, and shaped something like a Chinese junk.
Junk³
Where it comes from
South German surname, spelling variant of Jung.
proper noun Junks
- A surname.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: trash, scrap, debris, smack, rubble, shit, scag, heroin, horse, dust, h, detritus, diacetyl morphine, waste, scum, rubbish
verb
Similar: junk, 86, can, cast aside, cast off, cast away, get rid of, jettison, pitch, shift, throw aside
Translations
Every language
noun miscellaneous items of little value
| Español | basura, chatarra, cachureo, chunches |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 개털 gaeteol |
| 中文 | 破爛 /破烂 pòlàn |
| Português | porcaria |
| Deutsch | Kram, Kleinkruscht, Ramsch, Krempel |
| Italiano | paccottaglia, ciarpame, cianfrusaglie, robaccia |
| Ελληνικά | παλιατσαρία paliatsaría |
| Русский | барахло́ baraxló, хлам xlam, ру́хлядь rúxljadʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | phế liệu |
noun slang: narcotic drug
| 日本語 | ジャンク janku |
|---|---|
| Français | came |
| Deutsch | Stoff |
| Ελληνικά | ναρκωτικό narkotikó, πρέζα préza |
| Русский | дурь durʹ |
noun slang: genitalia
| Deutsch | Eier, Krempel, Nüsse, Klöten |
|---|---|
| Italiano | coglioni |
| Русский | хозя́йство xozjájstvo |
verb throw away
| Deutsch | wegwerfen |
|---|---|
| Italiano | rottamare |
| Русский | выбра́сывать vybrásyvatʹ, вы́бросить výbrositʹ |
Talk about this word "junk." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/junk. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. junk. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/junk "junk." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/junk.Cite this
@misc{junk_2026,
title = {junk},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/junk},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
