# spunk

> English word · Noun · IPA /spʌŋk/ · frequency rank #43,934

## Definitions
1. A spark.
2. Touchwood; tinder.
3. A piece of tinder, sometimes impregnated with sulphur; a match.
4. Courage; spirit; mettle; determination.
5. An attractive person; a good-looker.
6. Semen.

## Etymology
1530, blend of spark + funk (obsolete, “spark”).
Funk (“spark, touchwood”) is from Middle English funke, fonke (“spark”), from Old English *funca (“spark”), from Proto-West Germanic *funkō, from Proto-Germanic *funkô (“spark”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peng- (“to shine”), and is akin to Middle Low German funke, fanke (“spark”), Middle Dutch vonke (“spark”), Old High German funcho, funko (“spark”), German Funke (“spark”).

## Easily confused with
- **sun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-sun)
- **suck** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-suck)
- **sung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-sung)
- **sunk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-sunk)
- **spur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-spur)
- **suns** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-suns)
- **stun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-stun)
- **SUNY** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-suny)
- **stuck** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-stuck)
- **Spurs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-spurs)
- **stunt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-stunt)
- **swung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-swung)
- **stink** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-stink)
- **stung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-stung)
- **spurt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-spurt)
- **stank** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-stank)
- **swank** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-swank)
- **sputnik** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spunk-vs-sputnik)
- **spin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spin-vs-spunk)
- **sink** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sink-vs-spunk)

## Common misspellings (8)
`psunk`, `spnuk`, `sppunk`, `spukn`, `spunkk`, `spunnk`, `sspunk`, `supnk`

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