# skunk

> English word · Noun · IPA /skʌŋk/ · frequency rank #25,578

## Definitions
1. Any of various small mammals, of most genera of the family Mephitidae, native to North and Central America, having a glossy black with a white coat and two musk glands at the base of the tail for emitting a noxious smell as a defensive measure.
2. A despicable person.
3. Anything very bad; a stinker.
4. A walkover victory in sports or board games, as when the opposing side is unable to score.
5. A win by thirty or more points. (A double skunk is sixty or more, a triple skunk ninety or more.)

## Etymology
From an unattested Southern New England Algonquian word, cognate with Abenaki segôgw, segonku (“he who squirts (musk) / urinates”), from Proto-Algonquian *šeka·kwa, from *šek- (“to urinate”). Doublet of Chicago.

## Easily confused with
- **sun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-sun)
- **suck** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-suck)
- **sung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-sung)
- **sunk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-sunk)
- **spun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-spun)
- **suns** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-suns)
- **stun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-stun)
- **SUNY** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-suny)
- **sound** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-sound)
- **stuck** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-stuck)
- **stunt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-stunt)
- **swung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-swung)
- **stink** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-stink)
- **stung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-stung)
- **snuck** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-snuck)
- **spank** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-spank)
- **slung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-slung)
- **stank** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-stank)
- **spunk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-spunk)
- **swank** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/skunk-vs-swank)

## Common misspellings (8)
`ksunk`, `skkunk`, `sknuk`, `skukn`, `skunkk`, `skunnk`, `sskunk`, `suknk`

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