SPUNK
What does "SPUNK" mean?
Spirited courage, pluck, or determination, especially in the face of difficulty.
Meanings
- Courage, nerve, and lively determination. The rookie showed real spunk taking on the champion. informal
- Tinder; touchwood or dried fungus used to catch a spark. He kept a pouch of dry spunk to start the morning fire. archaic
Did you know?
- The 'courage' meaning grew out of the literal one: 'spunk' first meant tinder or touchwood that easily caught a spark, so a spunky person is one who readily catches fire.
Word origin
From Scottish and Irish Gaelic 'spong', meaning tinder or sponge (itself from Latin 'spongia'); the 'tinder' sense gave rise figuratively to the modern sense of spirited fire.
Remember it
SPUNK = SParK plus the gUNK that catches it - tinder that lights into courage.
A little poem
Smaller than the odds, she does not flinch.
Tinder does not measure the size of the storm-
it only asks the spark to come a little closer.
tercet
Wordplay
- The pioneer kept spunk in two places: a pouch by the fire and a steadiness in the chest - both for the cold nights.
What it teaches
Courage and tinder share a name for a reason: both are small, dry, and ready the instant a spark arrives.
Quick facts
What does SPUNK mean?
Spirited courage, pluck, or determination, especially in the face of difficulty.
Is SPUNK a valid word?
Yes — SPUNK is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is SPUNK?
SPUNK has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does SPUNK come from?
From Scottish and Irish Gaelic 'spong', meaning tinder or sponge (itself from Latin 'spongia'); the 'tinder' sense gave rise figuratively to the modern sense of spirited fire.
What can SPUNK teach us?
Courage and tinder share a name for a reason: both are small, dry, and ready the instant a spark arrives.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.