junkie

See also: Junkie

English

Alternative forms

• junky

Etymology

From junk (“narcotic drug”) +‎ -ie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒʌŋki/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋki

Noun

junkie (plural junkies)

1. (slang, derogatory) A narcotics addict, especially a heroin user.

   Synonyms: drug addict; see also Thesaurus:addict

   • 1982, “The Message”, performed by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five:

     Rats in the front room, roaches in the back / Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat

   • 2023, “Strung Out Johnny”, in Every Loser, performed by Iggy Pop:

     It's wiser to say no / God made me a junkie / But Satan told me so

2. (slang, by extension) An enthusiast of something.

   Synonyms: aficionado, enthusiast; see also Thesaurus:enthusiast

   English people are travel junkies, but Americans hardly ever leave their state.

   My uncle is a classic-car junkie.

Derived terms

• adrenaline junkie
• tuna junkie

Descendants

• → German: Junkie
• → Spanish: yonqui

Translations

drug addict — see drug addict

enthusiast

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 愛好者／爱好者 (zh) (àihàozhě), 迷 (zh) (mí) (used as a suffix)

• Finnish: hullu (fi)
• French: accro (fr) m or f
• Indonesian: pecandu (id)
• Russian: люби́тель (ru) m (ljubítelʹ), энтузиа́ст (ru) m (entuziást)
• Spanish: yonqui (slang), adicto (es) m, adicta (es) f

French

Noun

junkie m or f by sense (plural junkies)

1. junkie (drug dependant)