berk
English
Etymology
Cockney rhyming slang, an ellipsis and clipping of Berkeley Hunt, a prominent hunt at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, to mean cunt, q.v.
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /bɛrk/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /bɜːːk/, /bɜːɹk/
Audio (AU): (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)k
- Homophone: birk
Noun
berk (plural berks)
- (UK, slang, derogatory, possibly vulgar) Synonym of cunt in its various senses, (now especially somewhat endearing) a fool, a prat, a twit, &c. [1930]
- 2006 Feb. 3, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 2:
Synonyms
- See cunt and Thesaurus:fool and idiot
Usage notes
Although the term remains in fairly wide use, its specific origin and meaning in rhyming slang is less well known, lessening its vulgarity. In particular, berk is almost never parsed as gendered in the way cunt often is.
See also
- Belvoir (pronounced Beaver)
References
- "berk" in Chambers Dictionary
- "berk" in Jonathon Green's Cassell's Dictionary of Slang →ISBN
Anagrams
Albanian
Etymology 1
From berr (cf. derk from derr).
Noun
berk m (plural berqe, definite berku, definite plural berqet)
Declension
Related terms
Etymology 2
From Proto-Albanian *bardz(i)ka, from *bardza > bardhë (“white”). Similar sense development as in barmë.[1]
Noun
berk m (plural berqe, definite berku, definite plural berqet)
Declension
Related terms
References
- ^ Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “berk”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 21
Dutch
Etymology
From Middle Dutch berke, from Old Dutch *berka, from Proto-West Germanic *berku, from Proto-Germanic *berkō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵós.
Pronunciation
Noun
berk m (plural berken, diminutive berkje n)
- birch, tree of the genus Betula
- Synonym: berkenboom
Derived terms
Descendants
- Afrikaans: berk
French
Pronunciation
Interjection
berk
Turkish
Etymology 1
From Ottoman Turkish برك (berk), from Proto-Turkic *berk (“mighty”). Related to pek.
Adjective
berk
References
- Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “berk1”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
- Redhouse, James W. (1890) “برك”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon[1], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 356
- Starostin, Sergei, Dybo, Anna, Mudrak, Oleg (2003) Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill: “*parki”
Etymology 2
From Ottoman Turkish برق (berk), from Arabic بَرْق (barq).
Noun
berk (definite accusative berki, plural berkler) (archaic)
References
- Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “berk2”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
- Avery, Robert et al., editors (2013), The Redhouse Dictionary Turkish/Ottoman English, 21st edition, Istanbul: Sev Yayıncılık, →ISBN
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