skunk

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible
  2. noun a defeat in a game where one side fails to score
  3. noun street names for marijuana

Etymology

Borrowed from an unattested Southern New England Eastern Algonquian word cognate with Abenaki segôgw (literally “he who squirts (musk) / urinates”), from Proto-Algonquian *šeka·kwa, from *šek- (“to urinate”). Doublet of Chicago.

In classic literature

Synonyms

rotter, dirty dog, rat, stinker, stinkpot, bum, puke, crumb, lowlife, scum bag, so-and-so, git

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