Punky

//ˈpʌŋki// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative spelling of punkie (“small two-winged fly or midge; lantern similar to a jack-o'-lantern”). alt-of, alternative
  2. 2
    Alternative spelling of punkie (“pumpkinseed fish”). alt-of, alternative
  3. 3
    minute two-winged insect that sucks the blood of mammals and birds and other insects wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or pertaining to punk (touchwood); rotted or soft.

    "He said nothing, rousing himself once in a while to go through his hunting gear or repair a packstrap, and he even hollowed out a punky log with a hatchet for some use I couldn't divine."

  2. 2
    Of or pertaining to the punk subculture.

    "a punky hairstyle"

Synonyms

All synonyms
biting midgeno-see-umpunkeypunkiepunkiepunkish

Example

More examples

"There was this feller called Pete who used to live in the next street to mine. He sported a glorious pink and blue mohican. Everyone called him Punky Pete to distinguish him from other Petes."

Etymology

From punk + -y.

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