STANK
What does "STANK" mean?
The past tense of 'stink', meaning to have given off a strong unpleasant smell.
Meanings
- Past tense of 'stink': emitted a strong, foul odor. The garbage stank in the summer heat.
- A strong, offensive smell or a bold, gritty quality, often in music. That bassline has a serious stank to it. informal
Word origin
Past tense of 'stink', from Old English 'stincan', to emit a smell, from Proto-Germanic 'stinkwanan'; 'stank' follows the same vowel-change pattern as 'drink/drank' and 'sink/sank'.
Remember it
STINK, STANK, STUNK: the same i-a-u vowel ladder as DRINK, DRANK, DRUNK.
A little poem
The marsh at noon stank sweet and rotten-green,
the most alive thing nobody had seen.
couplet
Wordplay
- The grammar teacher's gym socks stank so badly, even the past tense couldn't move on from it.
What it teaches
A bad smell fades, but the memory of who left it lingers longest.
Quick facts
What does STANK mean?
The past tense of 'stink', meaning to have given off a strong unpleasant smell.
Is STANK a valid word?
Yes — STANK is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is STANK?
STANK has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does STANK come from?
Past tense of 'stink', from Old English 'stincan', to emit a smell, from Proto-Germanic 'stinkwanan'; 'stank' follows the same vowel-change pattern as 'drink/drank' and 'sink/sank'.
What can STANK teach us?
A bad smell fades, but the memory of who left it lingers longest.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.