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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

pwn en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /poʊn/ (US)
  • (US) audio
  • /pɔːn/ (UK)
  • /pɔn/ (US)
  • /pəʊn/ (UK)
  • /piˈoʊn/ (US)
  • /piˈəʊn/ (UK, rare)
  • /piˈɔn/ (US, rare)

Etymology

From own, possibly born out of a typographical error (the adjacency of o and p on qwerty keyboards).

Meanings

  1. (Internet, countable, uncountable) Triumph, victory. Often exclaimed after an opponent in a video game is defeated.
  2. (Internet, countable, qualifier:computer security, uncountable) An exploit in computer security, especially relating to machine code.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
pwns Number=Plur lexicographic
Source: en.wiktionary, “pwn” (noun), dump 20260902, contributors via the page history. Text licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

pwn en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • /poʊn/ (US)
  • (US) audio
  • /pɔːn/ (UK)
  • /pɔn/ (US)
  • /pəʊn/ (UK)
  • /piˈoʊn/ (US)
  • /piˈəʊn/ (UK, rare)
  • /piˈɔn/ (US, rare)

Etymology

From own, possibly born out of a typographical error (the adjacency of o and p on qwerty keyboards).

Meanings

  1. (Internet, ambitransitive, dated) To own, to defeat or dominate (someone or something, especially a game or someone playing a game).
    • The episode follows two different stories: in one, the show’s resident bigot, Eric Cartman, is outraged to learn that fellow fourth grader Clyde has risen to prominence as a white nationalist podcaster who makes offensive claims about women, Jewish people, Black people and other minority groups to goad them into debating him in exploitative viral videos (“WOKE STUDENT TOTALLY PWNED”). 2025 August 7, Zach Vasquez, “From puppy murder to racist podcasts: South Park’s anti-deportation episode is utterly ruthless TV”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 18 Aug 2025:
    • Otherwise I use fury as my normal attack. Fury completely pwns! 2001, Edward Glamkowski, alt.games.diablo2 (Usenet):
    • NOOBZ STILL R NOT PWNED. CONTINUE PWNERSHIP UNTIL ALL NOOBZ R PWNED. 2005, AlphaDream, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Nintendo:
    • My Trident pwns the Cirrus Logics! 2004, Bronney Hui, alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (Usenet):
    • When you get to the Temple of Marr, look very closely at the vases at zone-in and see if you can find the picture where Mith Marr "pwns" someone. 2003, James Grahame, alt.games.everquest (Usenet):
    • 2nd guard: "Yeah, shiiit! I PWNED YO @zz!" 1999 August 5, Quaestor, “Re: [SP] So..the first victim of the Evil/Hero System”, in rec.games.computer.ultima.online (Usenet), retrieved 23 Sep 2016, message-ID <37AA8154.D77E6EB8@Skara.Brae>:
    • I pwned them in game!

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
pwnt Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
pwnt Tense=Past lexicographic
pwning Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
pwned Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
pwned Tense=Past lexicographic
pwns Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
pwnd Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
pwnd Tense=Past lexicographic

Deriveds

pwnage · pwnz0r · Sinkie pwn Sinkie · pwner · wtfpwn

Synonyms

pwnz0r · own