Phrase guide

junk food

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Food with little or no nutritional value; alternatively, food that supplies a large amount of nutrients but also excess calories, excess sugar or starch, and so on.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, informal, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: unfood

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

food that tastes good but is high in calories having little nutritional value

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: food, solid food

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

62 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: անառողջ սնունդ (anaṙoġǰ snund) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Armenian: ջանկ-ֆուդ (ǰank-fud) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Basque: zabor-janari — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Bulgarian: джънк фуд (džǎnk fud) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Catalan: menjar escombraria — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Catalan: menjar porqueria — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Chinese Cantonese: 垃圾食品 (laap6 saap3 sik6 ban2) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Chinese Cantonese: 垃圾食物 (laap6 saap3 sik6 mat6) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Chinese Mandarin: 垃圾食品 (lājī shípǐn, lèsè shípǐn) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Chinese Mandarin: 垃圾食物 (lājī shíwù, lèsè shíwù) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Cornish: boos atal — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Czech: nezdravá strava — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Czech: bufetová strava — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Danish: junkfood — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Dutch: junkfood — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Dutch: troepvoedsel — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Dutch: vulvoer — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Estonian: rämpstoit — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Finnish: roskaruoka — food with little or no nutritional value
  • French: malbouffe — food with little or no nutritional value
  • French: junk-food — food with little or no nutritional value
  • German: ungesundes Essen — food with little or no nutritional value
  • German: Fraß — food with little or no nutritional value
  • German: Schundessen — food with little or no nutritional value
  • German: Junkfood — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Greek: έτοιμο ανθυγιεινό φαγητό (étoimo anthygieinó fagitó) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Hungarian: szemétkaja — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Icelandic: hnasl — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Indonesian: hanya makanan kecil — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Indonesian: makanan sampah — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Irish: mearbhia — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Italian: cibo poco sano — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Italian: cibi preconfezionati — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Italian: porcherie — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Italian: cibo spazzatura — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Japanese: ジャンクフード (jankufūdo) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Kabuverdianu: fatióta — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Korean: 정크푸드 (jeongkeupudeu) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Latvian: nepilnvērtīga barība — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Macedonian: нездрава храна (nezdrava hrana) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Māori: kai paraurehe — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Norwegian: usunnmat — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Norwegian Bokmål: søppelmat — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: søppelmat — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Persian: هلهخوراک (hale-xorâk) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Polish: śmieciowe jedzenie — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Portuguese: comida que não é saudável — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Portuguese: besteira — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Portuguese: tranqueira — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Russian: неполноценная пища (nepolnocennaja pišča) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Russian: тяжёлая пища (tjažólaja pišča) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Russian: нездоро́вая пи́ща (nezdoróvaja píšča) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Russian: пусты́е кало́рии (pustýje kalórii) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Russian: джанк-фу́д (džank-fúd) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Spanish: comida basura — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Spanish: comida chatarra — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Spanish: chucherías — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Swedish: skräpmat — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Thai: อาหารขยะ (aa-hǎan-kà-yà) — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Turkish: abur cubur — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Welsh: bwyd diwerth — food with little or no nutritional value
  • Welsh: bwyd sothach — food with little or no nutritional value