gherkin

See also: Gherkin

English

Alternative forms

gerkin (chiefly archaic)

Etymology

From a form of Dutch gurk, an archaic variant of augurk (“small pickled cucumber”), from Low German, from Middle Low German agurke, augurke, probably via Slavic (compare Polish ogórek), from Byzantine Greek ἀγγούριον (angoúrion, “cucumber”). The underlying Dutch form may be a diminutive (gurkijn) or perhaps more probably the plural (gurken), which was then associated with the English suffix -kin (itself incidentally from Dutch or Low German).[1][2]

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɝkɪn/
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɜːkɪn/
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)kɪn
Hyphenation: gher‧kin

Noun

gherkin (plural gherkins)

A small cucumber, often pickled whole.
(slang) The penis.
- 2008, E. Lockhart, Fly on the Wall:
  “Even my gherkin is sorry, and it didn't talk shit about anybody," persists Adrian. The edge of Titus's mouth quivers in laughter.
- 2010, Niobia Bryant, Live and Learn:
  “Yes, daddy,” I moaned, lying big-time as his finger played in my sudsy pussy. “Say please,” he ordered, taking my hand to circle around his gherkin.
- 2011, James Herbert Edwards, The Guardian Projects: Book Two, page 241:
  His gherkin was doing the tent dance, and he couldn't have been prouder.

Translations

small cucumber

Bulgarian: корнишо́н (bg) m (kornišón)
Catalan: cogombret m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 小黃瓜／小黄瓜 (zh) (xiǎohuángguā)
Danish: asie c
Dutch: augurk (nl) m
Finnish: cocktailkurkku, pikkelsikurkku
French: cornichon (fr) m
Galician: cogombro novo m
Georgian: კორნიშონი (ḳornišoni), ნეკა კიტრი (neḳa ḳiṭri)
German: Salzgurke (de) f (pickle), Gewürzgurke (de) f (pickle), Gürkchen n (small cucumber)
Greek: αγγουράκι (el) n (angouráki)
Icelandic: smágúrka f
Italian: cetriolino (it) m
Japanese: ガーキン (gākin)
Macedonian: корнишо́н m (kornišón), кисела краставичка f (kisela krastavička)
Maltese: ħjara żgħira f
Maori: kamoriki
Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
Norman: cornichon m
Polish: korniszon (pl) m
Portuguese: pepino em conserva m
Romanian: cornișon (ro) m
Russian: корнишо́н (ru) m (kornišón), огу́рчик (ru) m (ogúrčik)
Slovene: kumarica (sl) f
Spanish: pepinillo
Swedish: ättiksgurka c, liten inläggningsgurka c, saltgurka c
Turkish: kornişon (tr)
Ukrainian: корнішо́н m (kornišón)
Welsh: gercyn m

References

Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “gherkin”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “augurk”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.