name
Meaning 1
A surname
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
hunker
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: /ˈhʌŋkə/
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General-American: /ˈhʌŋkɚ/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ʌŋkə(ɹ)
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CMU ARPABET: HH AH1 NG K ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A political conservative.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 3
To crouch or squat close to the ground or lie down.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To apply oneself to a task.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
sit on one's heels
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- In some cultures, the women give birth while squatting
- The children hunkered down to protect themselves from the sandstorm
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: squat, crouch, scrunch, scrunch up, hunker down
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: sit, sit down
History
Etymology
Unknown
Originally Scottish. Origin uncertain, but probably of Germanic origin, perhaps *hunk- a nasalised variant of *huk- (compare Scots hoonk, hounk, variants of huk, hok (“to squat, crouch”); Scots hocker (“to crouch down, hunker”)), all of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse huka (“to crouch”), from Proto-Germanic *hūkan- (“to squat”), from *hūkkan-, back-formed from the iterative *huk(k)ōn-, from Proto-Indo-European *kuk-néh2, from *kewk- (“to curve, bend”) (also the source of high). Probable cognates include Old Norse húka, Dutch huiken, and German hocken.
Across languages
Translations
19 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: приклякам (prikljakam) — To crouch, squat or lie down
- Chinese Mandarin: 蹲下 (dūnxià) — To crouch, squat or lie down
- Czech: dřepnout si — To crouch, squat or lie down
- Czech: sednout si na bobek — To crouch, squat or lie down
- Finnish: kyykistyä — To crouch, squat or lie down
- Finnish: kyykkiä — To crouch, squat or lie down
- French: s'accroupir — To crouch, squat or lie down
- German: hocken — To crouch, squat or lie down
- German: ducken — To crouch, squat or lie down
- German: kauern — To crouch, squat or lie down
- Japanese: しゃがむ (shagamu) — To crouch, squat or lie down
- Polish: kucać — To crouch, squat or lie down
- Polish: kucnąć — To crouch, squat or lie down
- Portuguese: ficar de cócoras — To crouch, squat or lie down
- Russian: сиде́ть на ко́рточках (sidétʹ na kórtočkax) — To crouch, squat or lie down
- Spanish: encuclillarse — To crouch, squat or lie down
- Spanish: acurrucarse — To crouch, squat or lie down
- Ukrainian: присі́сти на ноги (prysísty na nohy) — To crouch, squat or lie down
- Ukrainian: сі́сти навпо́чіпки (sísty navpóčipky) — To crouch, squat or lie down