Standard Lemma guide

plucky

adj · 3 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

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.

  • /ˈplʌki/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ʌki
  • CMU ARPABET: P L AH1 K IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having or showing pluck, courage or spirit in trying circumstances.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: brave, spunky, feisty

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective

Meaning 2

marked by courage and determination in the face of difficulties or danger; robust and uninhibited-Judith Crist

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • you have to admire her; it was a gutsy thing to do
  • the gutsy...intensity of her musical involvement
  • a gutsy red wine

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: gutsy

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

showing courage

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the champion is faced with a feisty challenger

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: feisty, spunky

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English pluck Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Germanic *-gaz Proto-West Germanic *-g Old English -iġ Middle English -y English -y English plucky From pluck (“nerve, persistence”) + -y.

Across languages

Translations

33 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: решителен (rešitelen) — having or showing pluck
  • Chinese Mandarin: 勇敢 (yǒnggǎn) — having or showing pluck
  • Czech: kurážný — having or showing pluck
  • Esperanto: kuraĝa — having or showing pluck
  • Finnish: rohkea — having or showing pluck
  • Finnish: sisukas — having or showing pluck
  • French: courageux — having or showing pluck
  • French: qui a du cran — having or showing pluck
  • Galician: ousado — having or showing pluck
  • Galician: valente — having or showing pluck
  • Galician: afouto — having or showing pluck
  • German: beherzt — having or showing pluck
  • German: tapfer — having or showing pluck
  • Greek: θαρραλέος (tharraléos) — having or showing pluck
  • Hindi: वीर (vīr) — having or showing pluck
  • Italian: coraggioso — having or showing pluck
  • Italian: impavido — having or showing pluck
  • Māori: kiriūka — having or showing pluck
  • Māori: whaipara — having or showing pluck
  • Norman: gamme — having or showing pluck
  • Norwegian Bokmål: modig — having or showing pluck
  • Norwegian Bokmål: djerv — having or showing pluck
  • Polish: dzielny — having or showing pluck
  • Polish: odważny — having or showing pluck
  • Portuguese: ousado — having or showing pluck
  • Portuguese: impávido — having or showing pluck
  • Russian: отва́жный (otvážnyj) — having or showing pluck
  • Slovak: odvážny — having or showing pluck
  • Spanish: valiente — having or showing pluck
  • Spanish: osado — having or showing pluck
  • Swedish: modig — having or showing pluck
  • Swedish: djärv — having or showing pluck
  • Vietnamese: can đảm — having or showing pluck