STUNK
What does "STUNK" mean?
Past tense and past participle of 'stink'; gave off a strong bad smell.
Meanings
- Past tense of stink: emitted a strong, offensive odor. The whole fridge stunk after the power went out.
- Was very bad in quality; was contemptible. The movie absolutely stunk, and we walked out early. informal
Did you know?
- English keeps two past tenses for stink - 'stank' and 'stunk' are both correct - a rare bit of grammatical generosity.
- The Old English root of stink once meant to give off any smell, good or bad; only later did it commit fully to the foul ones.
Word origin
Past tense of 'stink', from Old English 'stincan', which originally meant simply to emit a smell (good or bad), only later narrowing to bad smells.
Remember it
STUNK = STINK with the I turned to U - the smell knocked the I right over.
A little poem
Forgotten lunch found-
a week's quiet chemistry
announces itself.
haiku
Wordplay
- The grammar test on past tenses stunk - and so did my answer for 'stink'.
What it teaches
A smell, like a mistake, announces itself before you do; better to find it first.
Quick facts
What does STUNK mean?
Past tense and past participle of 'stink'; gave off a strong bad smell.
Is STUNK a valid word?
Yes — STUNK is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is STUNK?
STUNK has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does STUNK come from?
Past tense of 'stink', from Old English 'stincan', which originally meant simply to emit a smell (good or bad), only later narrowing to bad smells.
What can STUNK teach us?
A smell, like a mistake, announces itself before you do; better to find it first.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.