Jank
adj, noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Perceptible pause in the smooth rendering of a software application's user interface due to slow operations or poor interface design. slang, uncountable
"This also marks the first time I haven’t felt that Samsung jank on the phone, which deserves its own paragraph in its own right. That weird stuttering and pausing you’ve seen on so many Samsung phones seems to be almost completely gone on the Note 3 […]"
- 2 Game mechanics of unconventional or flawed design or implementation, and the experience of such mechanics, as to ruin or disrupt play, or break immersion; e.g. bugs and glitches. slang, uncountable
"Bethesda’s jank made a PvP-centric experience hellish. Players kept finding exploits left and right."
- 3 A game, or games, with such mechanics. broadly, uncountable
- 1 Janky. slang
"Sadly, my new laptop is even more jank than my old one."
Example
More examples"This also marks the first time I haven’t felt that Samsung jank on the phone, which deserves its own paragraph in its own right. That weird stuttering and pausing you’ve seen on so many Samsung phones seems to be almost completely gone on the Note 3 […]"
Etymology
Ostensibly a back-formation from janky (“shoddy, poor quality”).
Related phrases
More for "jank"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.