Plonker

Plonker

Plonker is a slang term of British or Australian origin whose meaning has evolved over time. Partridge in the third edition of his "A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English" in 1949 recorded the term as "low" slang for penis, "since ca. 1917". The term remains in recent use with that meaning.

By 1966, the term had also acquired the meaning of a man who let his girlfriend sleep with his male friends [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/wordhunt/newresults.shtml] , and in the 1980s had a new meaning of a stupid or inept person. This meaning gained very wide circulation through its frequent use in Only Fools and Horses, and has entered common usage. [ [http://www.oed.com/bbcwords/plonker-new.html Extract revised for OED Online] Oxford English Dictionary, in association with the BBC etymological programme Balderdash & Piffle, July 2007]

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • plonker — ► NOUN Brit. informal ▪ a foolish or inept person. ORIGIN originally a dialect word meaning «something large of its kind»: from PLONK(Cf. ↑plonk) …   English terms dictionary

  • plonker — • an idiot, fool or a word for penis. Popularized by the UK TV comedy Only fools and horses . i.e. Rodney you total plonker ! , or You re pulling my plonker …   Londonisms dictionary

  • plonker — UK [ˈplɒŋkə(r)] / US [ˈplɑŋkər] noun [countable] Word forms plonker : singular plonker plural plonkers British very informal a stupid person, especially a man …   English dictionary

  • plonker — n British 1. the penis. A term probably influenced by plonk (down) in the sense of place down heavily or present defiantly. The word has been in use since early in the 20th century. It was rarely heard during the 1960s and 1970s but was revived… …   Contemporary slang

  • plonker — [[t]plɒ̱ŋkə(r)[/t]] plonkers N COUNT (disapproval) If someone calls a person, especially a man, a plonker, they think he is stupid. [BRIT, INFORMAL, OFFENSIVE] …   English dictionary

  • plonker —    Applied in English dialectal use to anything large or substantial since the 1860s. By the 1960s, in working class London vernacular, the word referred to a man’s private part, with no special reference to size. The word by then was also being… …   A dictionary of epithets and terms of address

  • plonker — noun a) A fool b) A man who sanctions sexual relationships between his girlfriend and his male friends …   Wiktionary

  • plonker — ● vt. ►USENET►MAIL Envoyer quelqu un dans son kill file. Comme bruit, ça fait plonk, normalement, si on vise bien et si l importun est suffisamment lourd …   Dictionnaire d'informatique francophone

  • plonker — I Everyday English Slang in Ireland n idiot II Irish Slang idiot …   English dialects glossary

  • plonker — plonk|er [ˈplɔnkə US ˈpla:ŋkər, ˈplo:ŋ ] n BrE informal not polite an offensive word for a stupid person …   Dictionary of contemporary English

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”