clonk
/klɒŋk/noun, verb
clonk is a noun meaning “The abrupt sound of two hard objects coming into contact” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled C-L-O-N-K, and it appears about once in every 42 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of clonk is clonks.
What does clonk mean?
noun
- 1
The abrupt sound of two hard objects coming into contact.
- 2
A stick-like tool used to strike the surface of the water and produce a sound that causes nearby fish to attack the bait.
verb
- 1
To make such a sound.
- 2
informalTo wallop, clobber.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce clonk?
- UK /klɒŋk/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-clonk.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of clonk
- clonks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- clonking participle, present
- clonked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is clonk?
Clonk appears about once in every 42 million words in written English, the 199,120th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Where does clonk come from?
Imitative. Compare clink, clank, clunk.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).