honk

honk

See also: Honk and hönk

English

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /hɒŋk/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /hɑŋk/, /hɔŋk/
• Rhymes: -ɒŋk

Verb

honk (third-person singular simple present honks, present participle honking, simple past and past participle honked)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To use a car horn.

   They stood and observed how long it took for the other cars to honk.

2. (intransitive) To make a loud, harsh sound like a car horn.
3. (intransitive) To make the vocal sound of a goose.
4. (slang) To vomit: regurgitate the contents of one's stomach.
5. (slang) To have a bad smell.
6. (informal) To squeeze playfully, usually a breast or nose.

   She honked my titties.

Derived terms

• honk off
• honker
• honking

Translations

to use a car horn

Arabic: Hijazi Arabic: طَوَّط‎ (ṭawwaṭ) South Levantine Arabic: زمّر‎ (zammar) Chinese: Mandarin: 嘟嘟響／嘟嘟响 (dūdū xiǎng) Esperanto: hupi Finnish: töötätä (fi), soittaa torvea French: klaxonner (fr) German: hupen (de), tuten (de) Greek: κορνάρω (el) (kornáro) Hebrew: צָפַר‎ (he) (tzafár) Hungarian: dudál (hu) Italian: suonare il clacson, clacsonare (it) Japanese: なく (ja) Korean: 경적을 울리다 (gyeongjeogeul ullida) Mongolian: чагнаалдах (mn) (čagnaaldax) Norwegian: tute Polish: trąbić (pl) Portuguese: buzinar (pt) Russian: гуде́ть (ru) (gudétʹ), сигна́лить (ru) (signálitʹ), биби́кать (ru) (bibíkatʹ) Spanish: pitar (es), tocar la bocina, tocar el claxon, dar un bocinazo Swedish: tuta (sv), signalera (sv) Vietnamese: bóp còi Westrobothnian: stuut, dyyt

to honk like a goose

Bashkir: ҡаңғылдау (qaŋğıldaw) Bulgarian: крякам (bg) (krjakam) Finnish: toitottaa (fi) German: schnattern (de) Hungarian: gágog (hu) Italian: starnazzare (it) Japanese: 鳴く (ja) (なく, naku) Norwegian: gakke Polish: gęgać (pl) Portuguese: grasnar (pt) Russian: гогота́ть (ru) (gogotátʹ)

Noun

honk (countable and uncountable, plural honks)

1. The sound produced by a typical car horn.
   • 1961 July, J. Geoffrey Todd, “Impressions of railroading in the United States:Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 424:

     The operator went out on to the platform with his handlamp and waved it in the traditional "wash-out" signal across the body. The engineer had been expecting this and responded at once with an acknowledging honk on the horn before bringing this huge, 16-car train gently to a stand at the platform.

2. The cry of a goose.
3. (informal) A bad smell.

Translations

the sound produced by a typical car horn

Bulgarian: сигнал на кллаксон m (signal na kllakson) Chinese: Mandarin: 嘟嘟響／嘟嘟响 (dūdū xiǎng), 嘟嘟聲／嘟嘟声 (dūdū shēng), 嘟 (zh) (dū), 嘟嘟 (zh) (dūdū) Finnish: tööttäys French: klaxon (fr) m Mongolian: яндангийн дуу (jandangiin duu) Portuguese: buzina (pt) Russian: гудо́к (ru) m (gudók), клаксо́н (ru) m (klaksón), сигна́л (ru) m (signál) Swedish: tut (sv) n Tagalog: pugak Vietnamese: tiếng còi xe

the cry of a goose

Bulgarian: крякане n (krjakane) Catalan: nyec (ca) m Finnish: toitotus (fi) German: gack Hungarian: gá (hu) Norwegian: gakk, rapp Portuguese: grasno (pt) m Russian: га-га-га́ (ga-ga-gá) Tagalog: kakak

Interjection

honk

1. Imitation of car horn, used, for example, to clear a path for oneself.

Translations

Translations

Armenian: պիբիբ (pibib) Russian: би (ru) (bi), бип (bip)

Noun

honk (plural honks)

1. Clipping of honky.

Anagrams

• Kohn, khon

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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch honc, likely through Old Dutch from Proto-Germanic *hank-, *hunk-. Only has cognates in the Frisian languages and possibly in the Old High German placename Hancwin. Since cognates outside of Germanic are lacking, the word is probably of substrate origin.[1] Possibly related to haak (“hook”) and hoek (“corner”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɦɔŋk/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: honk
• Rhymes: -ɔŋk

Noun

honk n (plural honken, diminutive honkje n)

1. (somewhat rare) home, place where one belongs, shelter
2. (games) base (safe zone, e.g. in baseball and similar sports)

Synonyms

• (home): thuis, heem

Derived terms

• honkbal
• honkvast
• jeugdhonk
• krachthonk

Descendants

• → Papiamentu: honk (dated)

References

1. van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “honk”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute