funk

See also: Funk

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʌŋk/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋk

Etymology 1

1620, from French dialectal (Norman) funquer, funquier (“to smoke, reek”), from Old Northern French fungier (“to smoke”), from Vulgar Latin fūmicāre, alteration of Latin fūmigāre (“to smoke, fumigate”). Related to French dialect funkière (“smoke”). More at fumigate.

Noun

funk (countable and uncountable, plural funks)

1. (countable) Foul or unpleasant smell, especially body odor.
   • 1982, “Thriller”, in Rod Temperton (lyrics), Quincy Jones (music), Thriller, performed by Michael Jackson (featuring Vincent Price), Epic Records:

     The foulest stench is in the air; the funk of 40,000 years and grizzly ghouls from every tomb are closing in to seal your doom.

2. (uncountable, music) A style of music derived from 1960s soul music, with elements of rock and other styles, characterized by a prominent bass guitar, dance-friendly sound, a strong emphasis on the downbeat, and much syncopation.

Derived terms

• avant-funk
• blue funk
• deep funk
• disco funk
• dundy funk
• dundy-funk
• electro-funk
• electrofunk
• fake the funk
• funk art
• funk hole
• funk-like
• funk-metal
• funk metal
• funk money
• funk out
• funk-rock
• funk rock
• funkster
• funky
• future funk
• G-funk
• jazz-funk

 

Translations

foul or unpleasant smell

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 臭味 (zh) (chòuwèi)

• Finnish: haju (fi), dunkkis (informal)
• French: puanteur (fr) f
• Galician: cheirume m, farume m, farún m, fedor (gl) m, bravú m, xatún m, chatún m
• German: Mief (de) m, Geruch (de) m, Gestank (de) m, Muff (de) m
• Portuguese: fedor (pt) m
• Russian: злово́ние (ru) n (zlovónije), вонь (ru) f (vonʹ)
• Spanish: hedor (es) m

genre of popular music

• Bulgarian: фънк m (fǎnk)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 放克 (fàngkè), 魂克 (húnkè), 瘋克／疯克 (fēngkè)

• Danish: funk c
• Esperanto: funko
• Finnish: funk (fi)
• French: funk (fr) m
• Georgian: ფანკი (panḳi)
• German: Funk (de) m
• Irish: func m
• Italian: funk (it) m
• Japanese: ファンク (fanku)
• Polish: funk (pl) m
• Portuguese: funk (pt) m
• Russian: фанк (ru) m (fank)
• Spanish: funk m
• Swedish: funk (sv) c
• Welsh: ffync m

Verb

funk (third-person singular simple present funks, present participle funking, simple past and past participle funked)

1. (intransitive) To emit an offensive smell; to stink.
2. (transitive) To envelop with an offensive smell or smoke.
   • c. 1709, William King, The Furmentary:

     He funks Basketia and her son to death

   • 2012, M. C. Beaton, Diana the Huntress:

     Funking a cobbler – that is, blowing smoke into his stall; smoking cigars at divans and club houses; […]

3. (intransitive) To perform funk music.
   • 1989 December 17, Christopher Wittke, “On The Edge In The '80s”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 23, page 9:

     From the earliest part of this decade when he funked in relative obscurity to his days as a superstar with the release of his Batman soundtrack last summer, I could almost always count on Prince.

4. (euphemistic, slang) Fuck (the taboo swear word)

   Funk this!

Synonyms

• eff;

Derived terms

• funk up
• funk you

Translations

to emit an offensive smell; to stink — see stink

to envelop with an offensive smell or smoke

Etymology 2

From Middle English funke, fonke (“spark”), from Old English *funca (“spark”), from Proto-Germanic *funkô (“spark”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peng- (“to shine”). Cognate with Middle Low German funke, fanke (“spark”), Middle Dutch vonke (“spark”), Old High German funcho, funko (“spark”), German Funke (“spark”). See also spunk.

Noun

funk (plural funks)

1. (obsolete) Touchwood, punk, tinder.

Translations

spark — see spark

touchwood, punk, tinder

• Bulgarian: прахан m (prahan)
• Catalan: esca (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: sytyke (fi)
• Russian: трут (ru) m (trut)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

Etymology 3

1743, Scottish and Northern English dialectal word, originally a verb meaning "to panic, fail due to panic". Perhaps from or cognate with obsolete Dutch fonck (“distress, agitation”), from Middle Dutch fonck (“perturbation, agitation”). More at flunk.

Noun

funk (countable and uncountable, plural funks)

1. (countable) Mental depression.
2. (uncountable) A state of fear or panic, especially cowardly.
   • 1899 March, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number MI, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part II:

     [The helmsman] steered with no end of a swagger while you were by; but if he lost sight of you, he became instantly the prey of an abject funk […]

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 1: Telemachus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part I [Telemachia], page 4:

     —A woful lunatic, Mulligan said. Were you in a funk?

   • 1925, Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway‎^[1], London: The Hogarth Press, →OCLC:

     Holmes was coming upstairs. Holmes would burst open the door. Holmes would say, “In a funk, eh?” Holmes would get him.

   • 1944 (written, first published in 2015), Bob Cooney, Proud Journey

     As I left the platform, the atmosphere was tense but there was no sign of uneasiness or funk […]

3. (countable) One who fears or panics; a coward.
   • 1875, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style:

     It is the long probation in the old way of teaching that fellows funk at or makes funks of them and their slow pace, almost up to the end of that probation, all who teach themselves are in a worse predicament as the hands with them are made the principle propellors instead of the feet.

Translations

mental depression

• Bulgarian: депресия (bg) f (depresija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 抑鬱／抑郁 (zh) (yìyù)

• Finnish: masennus (fi)
• German: depressive Stimmung f, bedrückte Stimmung f, Niedergeschlagenheit (de) f
• Norwegian: deppa
• Russian: депре́ссия (ru) f (depréssija)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

state of fear or panic

• Bulgarian: страх (bg) m (strah), паника (bg) f (panika)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 恐懼／恐惧 (zh) (kǒngjù)

• Finnish: paniikki (fi), pakokauhu (fi), kauhu (fi)
• German: Bammel (de) m, Angst (de) f, Schiss (de) m
• Russian: испу́г (ru) m (ispúg), страх (ru) m (strax), па́ника (ru) f (pánika)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

Verb

funk (third-person singular simple present funks, present participle funking, simple past and past participle funked)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To shrink from, or avoid something because of fear.
   • 1857, Charles Kingsley, “(please specify the page)”, in Two Years Ago, volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC:

     He'll have funked it , when he comes to the edge , and sees nothing but mist below

   • 1875, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style, The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style:

     It is the long probation in the old way of teaching that fellows funk at or makes funks of them and their slow pace, almost up to the end of that probation, all who teach themselves are in a worse predicament as the hands with them are made the principle propellors instead of the feet.

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 56:

     "Always wanted a go at the figure. Funked it. Shows what a man can do, given the right model. Dam' good model."

2. (transitive) To frighten; to cause to flinch.

Translations

to shrink from, or avoid something because of fear

• Bulgarian: свивам се от страх (svivam se ot strah)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 逃避 (zh) (táobì)

• Finnish: jänistää (fi)
• German: zurückschrecken (de), erschrecken (de), fürchten (de), kneifen (de), sich drücken
• Hungarian: be van gyulladva​/​tojva​/​rezelve, parázik (hu), húzódozik (hu), fél (hu), tart (hu)
• Russian: избега́ть (ru) impf (izbegátʹ) (to avoid), тру́сить (ru) impf (trúsitʹ)(to quail, to fear), дре́йфить (ru) impf (dréjfitʹ) (colloquial, to quail, to fear)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

Danish

Etymology 1

From English funk. Attested since 1977.

Noun

funk c (singular definite funken, not used in plural form)

1. (music) funk

Declension

Declension of funk

common gender	Singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	funk	funken
genitive	funks	funkens

Synonyms

• funkmusik

Derived terms

• funkband
• funkgruppe
• funkmusik

See also

• funky

Etymology 2

See funke.

Verb

funk

1. imperative of funke

References

• “funk” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English funk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʏŋk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: funk

Noun

funk m (uncountable)

1. funk (music style)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From English funk.

Noun

funk m (definite singular funken, uncountable)

1. (music) funk

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

funk

1. imperative of funke

Etymology 3

Verb

funk (present tense funke, past tense funka, past participle funka)

1. (dialectal, Trøndelag, Northern Norway) Alternative form of funke

Usage notes

(the dialectal form): The ending -e in present tense is reduced in the negation form (while spoken). Hence the written form "funk itj" is used, when the standard spelling is "funkar ikkje". Compare to phrases like "æ årsk itj" ("I do not bother").

Polish

Etymology 1

Unadapted borrowing from English funk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfaŋk/
• Rhymes: -aŋk
• Syllabification: funk

Noun

funk m inan

1. funk (genre of popular music)

   Synonym: funky

Declension

Declension of funk

	singular
nominative	funk
genitive	funku/funka
dative	funkowi
accusative	funku/funka
instrumental	funkiem
locative	funku
vocative	funku

Derived terms

adjective

• funkowy

 

Etymology 2

Back-formation from funkcjonariusz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfuŋk/
• Rhymes: -uŋk
• Syllabification: funk

Noun

funk m pers

1. (historical, rare) official, officer, agent, functionary (paid official of a political party or state security institution)
   • 1996, Henryk Pająk, Rządy zbirów: 1940-1990:

     W czołowym dzienniku polskojęzycznym uczą nas demokracji, tolerancji, europejskości synale wybitnych funków Komunistycznej Partii Polski, KPZU.

     In the leading Polish-language daily, we are taught democracy, tolerance, and European-ness by the sons of prominent officials of the Communist Party of Poland, CPWU.

Usage notes

This word used primarily to refer to functionaries of former communist parties (especially the Communist Party of Poland), as well as organs of the communist state.

Declension

Declension of funk

	singular	plural
nominative	funk	funcy/funki (deprecative)
genitive	funka	funków
dative	funkowi	funkom
accusative	funka	funków
instrumental	funkiem	funkami
locative	funku	funkach
vocative	funku	funcy

Further reading

• funk in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• funk in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English funk.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈfɐ̃.ki/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈfɐ̃.ki/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈfɐ̃.ke/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈfɐ̃.kɨ/

Noun

funk m (plural funks)

1. (music, uncountable) funk (a genre of popular music derived from soul music)
2. (Brazil, music, uncountable) funk carioca (Brazilian music genre derived from Miami bass)
3. (Brazil, music) a particular song or composition of funk carioca

Derived terms

• funkeiro, baile funk

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English funk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfank/ [ˈfãŋk]
• Rhymes: -ank

Noun

funk m (uncountable)

1. (music) funk