pimp

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɪmp/
• Rhymes: -ɪmp

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Origin unknown. Perhaps from French pimpant (“smart, sparkish”) or German Pimpf (“boy, youth, young squirt”). The Old English near-synonym was rendered by Old English forspennend (literally “solicitor”).

Noun

pimp (plural pimps)

1. Someone who solicits customers for prostitution and acts as manager for a group of prostitutes; a pander.
   • 2006, Lily Allen, Iyiola Babalola, Darren Lewis, Tommy McCook (lyrics and music), “LDN”, in Alright, Still, performed by Lily Allen:

     A fella looking dapper / And he's sittin' with a slapper / Then I see it's a pimp / And his crack whore

   • 2018, Brendon Urie, Michael Angelakos, Sam Hollander, Morgan Kibby, Jake Sinclair, Dillon Francis (lyrics and music), “Hey Look Ma, I Made It”, in Pray for the Wicked‎^[1], performed by Panic! at the Disco:

     All my life, been hustling / And tonight is my appraisal / 'Cause I'm a hooker selling songs / And my pimp's a record label

2. (African-American Vernacular, slang) A man who can easily attract women.

Derived terms

• gorilla pimp
• pimp cup
• pimpdom
• pimp hand
• pimphood
• pimpmobile
• pimpness
• pimpship
• pimp slap, pimp-slap
• pimp steak
• pimp stick
• Romeo pimp
• sugar pimp

Translations

prostitution solicitor

• Afrikaans: pooier, hoerboer
• Albanian: tutor prostitutash m
• Arabic: قَوَّاد m (qawwād)

  Egyptian Arabic: عرص m (ʕarṣ), معرص m (míʕarraṣ)

  South Levantine Arabic: عرص m (ʕarṣ), قَوَّاد m (gawwād)

• Armenian: կավատ (hy) (kavat)
• Azerbaijani: oğraş (az)
• Belarusian: сутэнёр m (sutenjór), зво́днік m (zvódnik), зво́дніца f (zvódnica)
• Bengali: কোটনা (bn) (kōṭona)
• Bikol Central: bugaw
• Bulgarian: сво́дник (bg) m (svódnik), сво́дница f (svódnica), сутеньо́р m (sutenjór)
• Burmese: ဖါခေါင်း (hpahkaung:)
• Catalan: proxeneta alcavot (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 姑爺仔 / 姑爷仔 (gu¹ je⁴ zai²), 龜公 / 龟公 (gwai¹ gung¹)

  Hokkien: 三七仔 (zh-min-nan) (sam-chhit-á), 牽猴的 / 牵猴的 (khan-kâu-ê), 牽猴仔 / 牵猴仔 (khan-kâu-á)

  Mandarin: 皮條客 / 皮条客 (zh) (pítiáokè), 老鴇 / 老鸨 (zh) (lǎobǎo) (female), 媽媽桑 / 妈妈桑 (zh) (māmāsāng) (female, Taiwan)

• Czech: pasák (cs) m, kuplíř (cs) m
• Danish: alfons (da)
• Dutch: pooier (nl)
• Esperanto: prostituisto
• Estonian: kupeldaja, sutenöör
• Finnish: sutenööri (fi), parittaja (fi)
• French: souteneur (fr), maquereau (fr) m, mac (fr) m, proxénète (fr)
• Galician: bagaxeiro m, alcaiote (gl) m, alcaiota f, proxeneta (gl) m or f
• Georgian: მამაშა (mamaša)
• German: Zuhälter (de) m, Lude (de) m, Kuppler (de) m
• Greek: προαγωγός (el) m or f (proagogós), μαστροπός (el) m or f (mastropós), σωματέμπορος (el) m or f (somatémporos), νταβατζής (el) m (ntavatzís)

  Ancient: μαστροπός m or f (mastropós), μάτρυλλος m (mátrullos)

• Hebrew: סַרְסוּר (he) m (sarsúr)
• Hindi: दलाल (hi) m (dalāl), कुटनी (hi) f (kuṭnī) (female)
• Hungarian: strici (hu), kerítő (hu), futtató (hu), lányfuttató
• Icelandic: melludólgur m, hórumangari m
• Indonesian: germo (id), mucikari (id)
• Irish: máistir striapach m
• Italian: magnaccia (it) m, pappone (it) m, protettore (it) m, ruffiano (it) m, lenone (it) m, prosseneta (it) m, paraninfo (it) m
• Japanese: 女衒 (ぜげん, zegen), ポン引き (ポンびき, ponbiki)
• Kazakh: жеңгетай (jeñgetai)
• Khmer: មេអណ្ដើក (km) (mei ʼɑndaək)
• Korean: 뚜쟁이 (ko) (ttujaeng'i), 뚜 (ko) (ttu), 기둥서방 (ko) (gidungseobang), 포주(抱主) (ko) (poju)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: gewad (ku) m, pêzeweng (ku) m, teres (ku) m

• Ladino: rufyano m, rufyana f
• Lao: ຊາຍານຸຊີບ (sā nyā nu sīp), ແມງດາ (mǣng dā) ("water cockroach")
• Latin: lēnō m, lena f
• Latvian: suteners m
• Lithuanian: suteneris m, sąvadautojas m
• Macedonian: сводник m (svodnik), подведувач m (podveduvač), макро m (makro)
• Malay: alku, barua, jaruman, ketolol, muncikari, pinang muda
• Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: зууч (mn) (zuuč)

• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: maquereau m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hallik m

• Old English: forspennend m
• Pashto: بغری m (bağaray)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: قَوَّاد (ğavvâd), جاکِش (jâkeš), جابیز (jâbiz), کُس‌کِش (kos-keš) (vulgar)

• Polish: alfons (pl) m, sutener (pl) m
• Portuguese: cafetão (pt) m (Brazil), proxeneta (pt) m, safado (pt) m, chulo (pt) m, alcoviteiro (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਦੱਲਾ m (dallā)
• Romani: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: proxenet (ro) m, pește (ro) m
• Russian: сутенёр (ru) m (sutenjór), сво́дник (ru) m (svódnik), сво́дница (ru) f (svódnica), сво́дня (ru) f (svódnja), кот (ru) (kot, literally “tomcat”) (slang)
• Scottish Gaelic: drùisear m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сводник m, пословодник m

  Roman: svodnik (sh) m, poslovodnik m

• Slovak: pasák m, kupliar m
• Slovene: zvodník (sl) m
• Spanish: chulo (es) m, proxeneta (es), rufián (es) m, cafiche (es) m, cabrón (es) m, padrote m, alcahuete (es) m, lenón m, ficho (es) m (Peru), cafishio (es) m (South America), cafisho (es) m (South America)
• Swahili: buzi
• Swedish: hallick (sv) c, sutenör (sv) c
• Tagalog: bugaw, kuwekong, alkahuwete, tita-tita
• Tajik: қаввод (qavvod)
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: తార్పుడుగాడు (tārpuḍugāḍu), (Telangana, vulgar) బాడ్కావ్ (bāḍkāv)
• Thai: แมงดา (mɛɛng-daa)
• Turkish: pezevenk (tr), kavat (tr), deyyus (tr), kurumsak (tr)
• Ukrainian: сутене́р m (sutenér), зві́дник m (zvídnyk), зві́дниця f (zvídnycja)
• Urdu: دَلال m (dalāl), کُٹْنی f (kuṭnī) (female)
• Uzbek: dayus (uz), sutenyor, dalla (uz), qoʻshmachi (uz)
• Vietnamese: kẻ mối lái, ma cô (vi)
• Volapük: (♂♀) lupärodan, (♂) hilupärodan, (♀) jilupärodan
• Welsh: pimp m, puteinfeistr m (literary)
• Yiddish: קאַדעט m (kadet) (slang)

Verb

pimp (third-person singular simple present pimps, present participle pimping, simple past and past participle pimped)

1. (intransitive) To act as a procurer of prostitutes; to pander.
2. (transitive) To prostitute someone.

   The smooth-talking, tall man with heavy gold bracelets claimed he could pimp anyone.

3. (transitive, African-American Vernacular, slang) To excessively customize something, especially a vehicle.

   Synonyms: pimp out, pimp up; mack out

   Coordinate terms: level up, max out, spec out, spec up, trick out

   You pimped out that motorcycle f'real, dawg.

4. (transitive, medicine, slang) To ask progressively harder and ultimately unanswerable questions of a resident or medical student (said of a senior member of the medical staff).
   • 2004, Robert A. Blume, Arthur W. Combs, The Continuing American Revolution: A Psychological Perspective, page 183:

     Only an attending physician can pimp a chief resident; the chief resident and attending can pimp a junior resident; they all three can pimp an intern.

5. (transitive, US, slang) To promote, to tout.

   I gotta show you this sweet website where you can pimp your blog and get more readers.

   • 1990 February 4, Leonard Tirado, “Privatized 'Recovery' Versus Collective Action”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 19:

     The trendy rehabs being pimped by the addiction industry's glossy PR.

6. (US, slang) To persuade, smooth talk or trick another into doing something for your benefit.

   I pimped her out of $2,000 and she paid for the entire stay at the Bahamas.

Synonyms

• (prostitute someone): hustle, whore out; see also Thesaurus:pimp out
• (promote, tout): pitch, promote, tout, spruik

Derived terms

• gorilla pimp
• pimp off
• pimp out
• pimp up

Translations

to act as procurer of prostitutes

• Arabic: قَادَ (qāda), قَوَّدَ (qawwada)
• Bulgarian: своднича (svodniča)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 拉皮條 / 拉皮条 (zh) (lā pítiáo), 拉客 (zh) (lākè)

• Finnish: parittaa (fi), toimia sutenöörinä
• French: prostituer (fr), maquereller (fr), maquereauter (fr)
• Greek: εκπορνεύω (el) (ekpornévo), μαστροπεύω (el) (mastropévo)
• Hungarian: kerít (hu), kerítőként/striciként ténykedik/működik/tevékenykedik
• Italian: procacciare (it)
• Persian: کس‌کشی کردن (kos-keši kardan), جاکشی کردن (jâkeši kardan)
• Portuguese: cafetinar, alcovitar (pt)
• Russian: сво́дничать (ru) impf (svódničatʹ)
• Spanish: putear (es), proxenentizar, encafichar
• Turkish: pezevenklik yapmak

to prostitute someone

• Finnish: tehdä jostakusta prostituoitu
• French: prostituer (fr)
• German: prostituieren (de)
• Greek: εκπορνεύω (el) (ekpornévo)
• Italian: prostituire
• Portuguese: prostituir (pt)
• Spanish: cafishear (Argentina), cafishiar (South America)

to excessively customize

• Finnish: tuunata (fi), pimpata
• Italian: risistemare
• Spanish: tunear (es)

medicine:to ask progressively harder and ultimately unanswerable questions of a resident or medical student

• Finnish: tentata (fi), kuulustella (fi)

to promote, tout

• Finnish: puffata

to persuade or trick another into doing something for your benefit

• Finnish: taivutella (fi)

Adjective

pimp

1. (slang) Excellent, fashionable, stylish.

See also

• pimping (adjective)
• player
• playa
• madam

Further reading

• Double-Tongued Dictionary definition

Etymology 2

From Brythonic numerals, from Proto-Brythonic *pɨmp.

Cognate with Welsh pump, Cornish pymp, Breton pemp. Doublet of cinque, five, punch (“beverage”), ponzu, and sengi (“currency”); related to Pompeii.

Numeral

pimp

2. (Cumbria and Old Welsh) Five in Cumbrian and Welsh sheep counting.

See also

• (Borrowdale sheep counting) yan, tyan, tethera, methera, pimp, sethera, lethera, hovera, dovera, dick, yan-a-dick, tyan-a-dick, tethera-a-dick, methera-a-dick, bumfit, yan-a-bumfit, tyan-a-bumfit, tethera-a-bumfit, methera-bumfit, giggot

References

• Wright, Peter (1995) Cumbrian Chat, Dalesman Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 7
• Deakin, Michael A.B. (2007) Leigh-Lancaster, David, editor, The Name of the Number‎^[2], Australian Council for Educational Research, →ISBN, retrieved 2008-05-17, page 75
• Varvogli, Aliki (2002) Annie Proulx's The Shipping News: A Reader's Guide‎^[3], Continuum International Publishing Group, →ISBN, retrieved 2008-05-17, pages 24-25

Anagrams

• impp.