Pencil-neck

noun, slang

noun, slang ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A person with a very thin neck. informal
  2. 2
    An insubstantial person; a weakling. US, derogatory, idiomatic

    "That pencil-neck from systems isn't going to tell me what I can't do."

Example

More examples

"That pencil-neck from systems isn't going to tell me what I can't do."

Etymology

From pencil + neck, popularized by wrestler Freddie Blassie.

Related phrases

pencil-necked

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.