dunk

Etymology

It is borrowed from Pennsylvania German dunke (“to dip, immerse”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} from German dunken, a former variant of tunken in the same sense,^[2][6][8] from Middle High German dunken and tunken, from Old High German thunkōn and dunkōn (“to dip, immerse, dye”).^[2][4][5][9] Wiktionary traces the Old High German verb to Proto-Germanic *þunkōną.^[1] The OED derives the Germanic verb from the zero grade of the same Indo-European base as Latin tingō (“to moisten, immerse, dye”) and Ancient Greek τέγγω (téngō, “to moisten”),^[2][9] which Etymonline gives as Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to soak”);^[3] the Latin verb is the source of tinge and tincture.^[2][3] The name of the Dunkers, a Protestant sect founded in Germany whose members baptise by triple immersion, comes from Tunker, one who dips, and is recorded in English from 1744.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To dip a biscuit, pastry or piece of bread into coffee, tea, milk or soup before eating it: the OED's first record is from the New York Tribune of 1917,^[2] while Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1919, as an Americanism.^[4][3][5] Dictionary.com dates it as early as 1865–70.^[10]

Semantic evolution

From the dipping of food the verb widened to immersing anything briefly in a liquid (1935), to ducking a person's head under water as a prank, a North American use (1936), and figuratively to plunging someone into a situation (1937).^[2] In basketball it came to mean jumping up and thrusting the ball down through the basket: the OED records it from 1934 and Etymonline by 1935, but Barnhart only from 1955.^[2][3][4] The noun followed, first for a dip or immersion (1932),^[2] then for the basketball shot, recorded from 1957 in the OED and 1967 in Etymonline, after the earlier dunk shot (1950).^[2][3] Later American slang used dunk for outwitting an opponent with an unexpected move (1994) and for humiliating someone (1999).^[11]

Timeline

• 1744 – Dunker, a member of the German Baptist Brethren.^[2]
• 1917 – to dip food into a drink before eating it.^[2]
• 1919 – first record in Barnhart, Etymonline and Merriam-Webster.^[4][3][5]
• 1932 – noun, an immersion, a dip.^[2]
• 1934 – basketball, to thrust the ball down into the basket.^[2]
• 1935 – to immerse in a liquid.^[2]
• 1936 – to push a person's head under water.^[2]
• 1937 – to plunge into a situation.^[2]
• 1950 – dunk shot.^[3]
• 1957 – noun, a dunk shot.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To dip food such as bread, a biscuit or a doughnut into a drink or soup before eating it: He dunked his toast in his tea.^[12][5][2]
2. To immerse something or someone briefly in a liquid.^[12][5][2]
3. (North America) To push a person's head and shoulders under water, as a joke.^[2]
4. (basketball) To jump up and thrust the ball down through the basket with the hands above the rim; to score in this way.^[5][2][6]

Noun

1. (basketball) A dunk shot.^[5][2][6]
2. A brief immersion in a liquid; a dip.^[2][5]

Word family

• dunker
• dunkable
• dunk shot
• slam dunk

Related words

• tinge
• tincture

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins