chunk

Pronunciation

• /t͡ʃʌŋk/^[1]

chunk¹ thick piece, lump

Etymology

The lump is probably a nasalized variant of chuck in its sense "a block, a lump" or "a cut of meat".^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The OED calls it apparently a modification of that noun, especially common in the United States,^[7][8] and notes that chuck itself seems to have been originally a variant of chock, a block.^[7][2] Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English call it probably or apparently an alteration of chuck,^[9][10] the American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster say only "perhaps".^[11][12] Weekley compares the dialect word junk.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

A thick, roughly cubical lump cut off something, such as wood, bread, cheese or meat: 1691, in John Ray's collection of South and East Country words.^[7][4] Etymonline dates it to the 1690s,^[2] and Dictionary.com to 1685–95.^[14]

Semantic evolution

Partridge sees the earliest meaning as a log or stump, which led to a fair-sized piece and to a stumpy person or animal.^[15] Merriam-Webster still records a dialect sense, a log or stump, especially a heavy piece of firewood,^[12] and Wright found chunk for a log of wood or the stump of a tree from Yorkshire and Derbyshire south to Kent, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset.^[16] Most of the later senses arose in American English: a block of wood (1781), a sturdy horse or pony (1818), and a thickset, strong person or animal (1822).^[7][2][8] The sense "a large amount" is dated 1883 by Etymonline and before 1889 by the OED,^[2][7] but Green's Dictionary of Slang has a pretty chunk of a fight from 1832.^[17] A verb chunk, to throw something at someone or to hit with a missile, is recorded from 1835, again in the United States;^[7][2] Etymonline thinks it may also have been influenced by chuck, to throw,^[2] and Merriam-Webster labels it chiefly Southern.^[12] In psychology chunking is the grouping of separate items of information into a single unit that is easier to remember.^[18][12] The adjective chunky is recorded from 1751, first in American English.^[4]

Timeline

• 1691 – a thick lump cut off something.^[7][4]
• 1751 – chunky, stocky.^[4]
• 1781 – a block of wood (chiefly US).^[7]
• 1818 – a stocky horse or pony (US).^[7]
• 1822 – a thickset, strong person or animal (US).^[7][2]
• 1832 – a large amount, a good deal.^[17]
• 1835 – verb, to throw at or hit with a missile (US).^[7][2]
• 1840 – verb, to feed a fire with fuel, often chunk up (US).^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thick, solid piece or lump of something: a chunk of cheese.^[6][11][12]
2. (informal) A large amount or part: The repairs ate up a chunk of their savings.^[6][11][12]
3. A strong, stocky horse.^[11][7]
4. (dialect) A log or stump, especially a heavy piece of firewood.^[12][16]

Verb

1. To cut or break into chunks.^[11][19]
2. (chiefly Southern US) To throw something, or to throw things at.^[12][7]
3. (US dialect) To build up or feed a fire with fuel, often with up.^[12][7]
4. (psychology) To group separate items of information into one unit that is easily remembered.^[12][18]

Word family

• chunky
• chunkiness
• chunkily
• chunking

chunk² dull sound

Etymology

The verb meaning to move with a dull or muffled sound is imitative of that sound.^{[7][8][12][10][19]}

Earliest recorded meaning

To move along with a plunging or explosive sound: 1890, in Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads.^[7][12]

Semantic evolution

The Shorter Oxford records it as a verb, a noun and an interjection for a muffled metallic sound, also doubled as chunk-chunk, all from the late 19th century.^[8] In golf, a player who chunks a shot strikes the ground behind the ball.^[12] American student slang of the late 1980s used chunk for doing badly, as in an examination, which Green's Dictionary of Slang explains as an echo of hitting the bottom.^[17]

Timeline

• 1890 – to move with a dull plunging or explosive sound.^[7][12]
• 1989 – US campus slang, to do badly.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a dull, muffled or metallic sound, or to move along making such sounds: The old washing machine chunked through its cycle.^[11][12][8]
2. (golf, informal) To mishit a ball by striking the ground behind it.^[12]

Noun

1. A dull, muffled or metallic sound.^[12][8]

Related words

• chuck
• chock

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
15. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
16. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
17. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
18. ^ a b The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
19. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press