Etymologically
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funk

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Pronunciation

funk1 strong smell; music

Etymology

The strong smell is probably borrowed from Picard funquer (“to give off smoke”), a northern French dialect verb also found in Walloon,[2][3][4][5][6] from Old French fungier or funkier (“to give off smoke, fill with smoke”),[5][4][6][3] from Vulgar Latin *fūmicō,[2][3] an alteration of Latin fūmigō (“to smoke”),[2][5][4] the source of fumigate, from fūmus (“smoke”).[6][7] Barnhart and Etymonline name a dialect noun funkière (“smoke”) as the immediate source.[5][4] The revised OED (2017) is more cautious: it calls the noun of uncertain origin, perhaps expressive, comparing the ending of stink, and mentions the French dialect verb only for the English verb.[8] Etymonline does not connect it with the obsolete funk, spark.[4] The music sense is a back-formation from funky, itself formed from this funk.[3][4][2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A strong, unpleasant smell, in early use of tobacco smoke: 1606, in E. Scott's account of the East Indians.[8] Etymonline dates it to the 1620s and Barnhart to 1633.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defined funk as "a stink", and labelled it "a low word".[9] In the late 17th century it was also slang for tobacco (1677) and for thick smoke (1699),[8][10] and the verb meant to smoke a pipe (1684) or to annoy someone with smoke (1699);[8][5] to funk the cobbler (1785) was a prank of filling a room with foul tobacco smoke through the keyhole.[8][11] The adjective funky, smelling strongly, is dated 1680 by the OED and 1784 by Barnhart.[8][5] Barnhart and the OED trace its musical sense to ragtime songs, above all Buddy Bolden's "Funky Butt" of about 1900,[5][8] and “Word Origins” notes that funky had been a Black English word for "bad, worthless" before it reversed its meaning.[12] From funky in jazz, funk came to mean an earthy, bluesy quality in music (1954, in a title by H. Silver), and then a style of popular music (1970).[8][12] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the musical noun to 1959.[4][3] The verb followed: to play funk music (1967), and funk up, to make a place smell (1967).[8]

Timeline

  • 1606 – a strong, unpleasant smell.[8]
  • 1677 – slang, tobacco.[8]
  • 1684 – verb, to smoke tobacco.[8]
  • 1699 – thick smoke; verb, to annoy with smoke.[8][5]
  • 1755 – Johnson's "a stink; a low word".[9]
  • 1785 – to funk the cobbler.[8]
  • 1954 – an earthy, bluesy quality in jazz.[8]
  • 1959 – funk music (Etymonline, Merriam-Webster).[4][3]
  • 1967 – verb, to play funk, and funk up, to make smelly.[8]
  • 1970 – a style of popular music.[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A strong, unpleasant smell; a stink.
  2. A style of popular music of African American origin, mixing rhythm and blues, jazz and soul, with a strong, repeated bass line.
  3. An earthy, bluesy quality in music; the quality of being funky.

Verb

  1. To play or dance to funk music, or to add funk to a piece.
  2. funk up: to make a place smell strongly.

Word family

  • funky
  • funkster
  • funk metal

funk2 fear, panic

Etymology

The fear is perhaps borrowed from Dutch fonck (“perturbation, agitation, distress”), an obsolete Flemish word (now fonk),[3][2][5][13][8] recorded from 1588 in the phrase in de fonck (“in turmoil, in trouble”); its own origin is unknown.[8][14][5] Barnhart and Etymonline compare Old French funicle (“wild, mad”).[5][4] Etymonline thinks it probably comes from a Scottish and northern English verb funk, to become afraid, which the OED also considers, though the verb is recorded a little later;[4][8] Hoad, the Shorter Oxford, “Word Origins” and the Oxford Dictionary of English take it as perhaps the slang funk, tobacco smoke, a sense of funk1.[15][6][12][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A state of panic or fear: 1743, as Oxford University slang, in Lye's edition of Junius's Etymologicum Anglicanum;[8][5] Barnhart adds that Junius compiled it before 1677.[5]

Semantic evolution

Green's Dictionary of Slang cites funk, cowardice, from a song of 1719.[10] The verb, to flinch or shrink through fear, appears in Horace Walpole's letters, from Eton, dated 1737–39 by Barnhart and ?1746 by the OED.[5][8] From 1834 it also meant to back out of something through cowardice.[8] Funk was a coward from 1859, in Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms,[8] and in a blue funk is recorded from 1861.[5] The Scottish funk, a fit of gloom or bad temper (1808), from the verb funk, to kick, is apparently of distinct origin but is also used in the phrase in a funk;[8] Etymonline takes the sense "depression, ill humour" as perhaps developed from the fear sense.[4] In northern and Scottish dialects the verb also meant to faint or to shirk a job.[11]

Timeline

  • 1719 – cowardice (Green's Dictionary of Slang).[10]
  • 1737 – verb, to flinch through fear (Barnhart).[5]
  • 1743 – a state of panic, as Oxford slang.[8][5]
  • 1808 – Scottish, a fit of gloom or bad temper.[8]
  • 1834 – verb, to back out of something through fear.[8]
  • 1859 – a coward.[8]
  • 1861 – in a blue funk.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A state of fear, panic or nervousness, especially in the phrases in a funk and in a blue funk.
  2. A state of depression or gloom.
  3. (chiefly British) A coward.

Verb

  1. To flinch or shrink back through fear.
  2. To avoid a task or duty out of fear; to shirk it: He funked the interview at the last minute.
  3. To make afraid.

Word family

  • blue funk
  • funker
  • funk hole
  • fume
  • fumigate

Usage notes

Several other words are spelled funk.[8][3] An obsolete funk, spark or touchwood (before 1393, in Gower), is probably from Middle Dutch vonke (“spark”);[8][6] in Scotland funk was also to kick, of a horse (about 1707), probably imitative.[8][3][11]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ 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 z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  11. ^ a b c 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)
  12. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  13. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  15. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press