# junk

> English word · Noun · IPA /d͡ʒʌŋk/ · frequency rank #6,800

## Definitions
1. Miscellaneous items of little value, especially discarded or unwanted items.
2. Material or resources of poor quality or low value, especially resources that lack commercial value.
3. Nonsense; gibberish.
4. Any narcotic drug, especially heroin.
5. The genitalia, especially of a male.
6. Salt beef.
7. Pieces of old cable or cordage, used for making gaskets, mats, swabs, etc., and when picked to pieces, forming oakum for filling the seams of ships.
8. A fragment of any solid substance; a thick piece; a chunk.

## Etymology
From earlier meaning "old refuse from boats and ships", from Middle English junk, jounke, jonk, joynk (“an old cable or rope”, nautical term), sometimes cut into bits and used as caulking; of uncertain origin; perhaps related to join, joint, juncture. Often compared to Middle English junk, jonk, jonke, junck (“a rush; basket made of rushes”), from Old French jonc, from Latin iuncus (“rush, reed”); however, the Oxford English Dictionary finds "no evidence of connexion".

## Easily confused with
- **jus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/junk-vs-jus)
- **just** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/junk-vs-just)
- **jury** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/junk-vs-jury)
- **Juno** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/junk-vs-juno)
- **juve** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/junk-vs-juve)
- **jute** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/junk-vs-jute)
- **Jura** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/junk-vs-jura)
- **junta** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/junk-vs-junta)
- **junkie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/junk-vs-junkie)
- **Ju** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ju-vs-junk)
- **JK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jk-vs-junk)
- **Jan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jan-vs-junk)
- **Jon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jon-vs-junk)
- **jin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jin-vs-junk)
- **jun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jun-vs-junk)
- **Jen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jen-vs-junk)
- **JFK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jfk-vs-junk)
- **jug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jug-vs-junk)
- **June** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/june-vs-junk)
- **July** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/july-vs-junk)

## Common misspellings (6)
`jjunk`, `jnuk`, `jukn`, `junkk`, `junnk`, `ujnk`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/junk