adj
Meaning 1
Odd; out of order; perverse.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
awk
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Received-Pronunciation: /ɔːk/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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US: /ɔːk/
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cot-caught-merger: /ɑːk/
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rhymes with -ɔːk
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rhymes with -ɑːk
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homophone: auk
adj
Meaning 2
Wrong, or not commonly used; clumsy; sinister.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 3
Clumsy in performance or manners; not dexterous; awkward.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, dialectal, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: unhandy
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 4
Awkward; uncomfortable.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, slang
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adv
Meaning 5
Perversely; in the wrong way.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
intj
Meaning 6
Alternative spelling of och.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 7
Alternative letter-case form of AWK.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 8
A Unix scripting language for text processing, or the command line interface itself.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: computer-languages, computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences
Examples
- I used C, Perl, the Bourne shell, and some AWK and Tcl to implement these projects.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h2ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h2epó Proto-Indo-European *h3ekw- Proto-Indo-European *h2époh3kwos Proto-Germanic *abuhaz Old Norse ǫfugrder. Middle English awke English awk From Middle English awke, from Old Norse ǫfugr, ǫfigr, afigr (“turned backwards”) (whence Danish avet (“backwards”), Swedish avig (“turned backwards”)), from Proto-Germanic *abuhaz. Cognate with German äbich, Gothic 𐌹𐌱𐌿𐌺𐍃 (ibuks, “turned back”). Akin to Sanskrit अपाच् (apāc, “turned away”). Compare dialectal Danish ave (“to turn”), Dutch averechts (“opposite, backwards, contrary”), Icelandic öfga (“to reverse”).
From the initial letters of the surnames of its authors: Alfred Aho, Peter J. Weinberger, and Brian Kernighan.