hunker en · VERB · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /ˈhʌŋkɚ/ (General-American)
- (US) audio
- /ˈhʌŋkə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
Originally Scottish. Origin uncertain, but probably of Germanic origin, perhaps *hunk- a nasalised variant of *huk- (compare Scots hoonk, hounk, variants of huk, hok (“to squat, crouch”); Scots hocker (“to crouch down, hunker”)), all of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse huka (“to crouch”), from Proto-Germanic *hūkan- (“to squat”), from *hūkkan-, back-formed from the iterative *huk(k)ōn-, from Proto-Indo-European *kuk-néh₂, from *kewk- (“to curve, bend”) (also the source of high). Probable cognates include Old Norse húka, Dutch huiken, and German hocken.
Meanings
-
(intransitive) To crouch or squat close to the ground or lie down.
Get out of the mobile home and hunker in a ditch
2020 March 3, “Tornado Safety”, in WHAS-TV, archived from the original on 03 Apr 2023:
- (intransitive) To apply oneself to a task.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| hunkered | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| hunkered | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| hunkers | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| hunkering | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic |
Deriveds
hunker down · hunkers · hunkerer
Synonyms
lie (crouch, squat or lie) · squat (crouch, squat or lie) · crouch (crouch, squat or lie)
Translations (19)
fi kyykkiä (To crouch, squat or lie down) · cs dřepnout si (To crouch, squat or lie down) · cs sednout si na bobek (To crouch, squat or lie down) · de hocken (To crouch, squat or lie down) · de ducken (To crouch, squat or lie down) · ja しゃがむ (To crouch, squat or lie down) · uk присі́сти на ноги (To crouch, squat or lie down) · pl kucać (To crouch, squat or lie down) · bg приклякам (To crouch, squat or lie down) · fr s'accroupir (To crouch, squat or lie down) · es encuclillarse (To crouch, squat or lie down) · uk сі́сти навпо́чіпки (To crouch, squat or lie down) · fi kyykistyä (To crouch, squat or lie down) · es acurrucarse (To crouch, squat or lie down) · de kauern (To crouch, squat or lie down) · pt ficar de cócoras (To crouch, squat or lie down) · pl kucnąć (To crouch, squat or lie down) · cmn 蹲下 (To crouch, squat or lie down) · ru сиде́ть на ко́рточках (To crouch, squat or lie down)