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whack

/ˈwæk/noun, verb, adjective

whack is spelled W-H-A-C-K: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “wack vs whack” about 590 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, whack means “The sound of a heavy strike” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of whack is whacks.

How many letters and syllables are in whack?

Letters5: W-H-A-C-K
Syllables1
In writing2.7 times per million words; the 16,455th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How common is whack?

Whack appears 2.7 times per million words in written English, the 16,455th 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).

How do you pronounce whack?

  • /ˈwæk/
  • /ˈʍæk/
  • [ˈw̥æk]

Whack has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-whack.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with whack

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

wack vs whack590 G

Sounds like: wack (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: wack.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of whack

  • whacks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • whacking participle, present
  • whacked participle, past
  • whacker comparative
  • whackest superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does whack mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The sound of a heavy strike.

  2. 2

    The strike itself.

  3. 3

    The stroke itself, regardless of its successful impact.

  4. 4

    slangAn attempt, a chance, a turn, a go, originally an attempt to beat someone or something.

    C'mon. Take a whack at it.

  5. 5

    datedA share, a portion, especially a full share or large portion.

  6. 6

    obsoleteA whack-up: a division of an amount into separate whacks, a divvying up.

  7. 7

    USobsoleteA deal, an agreement.

    It's a whack!

  8. 8

    slangA harmful outcome or repercussion.

verb

  1. 1

    To hit, slap or strike.

    The bat whacked the baseball.

  2. 2

    slangTo assassinate, bump off.

  3. 3

    slangTo share or parcel out (often with up).

    to whack the spoils of a robbery

  4. 4

    To beat convincingly; to thrash.

    The fidgety Majors were whacked 9-1 by the Kitchener Panthers at Couch and now trail their rivals 2-0 in an increasingly uncomfortable best-of-seven Intercounty Baseball League first-round series.

  5. 5

    UKTo surpass; to better.

  6. 6

    To attempt something despite not knowing how to do it; to take on a task spontaneously and carelessly without planning.

  7. 7

    To eat something hurriedly.

adjective

  1. 1

    Alternative spelling of wack (“annoyingly or disappointingly bad”).

    That's whack, yo!

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Whack in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcoup, clac (a blow, impact or slap), frapper, claquer, fesser (to hit, slap or strike), buter (to kill)
GermanSchlag, Hieb (a blow, impact or slap), schlagen (to hit, slap or strike), töten, ermorden (to kill), verteilen (to share or parcel out)
Spanishporrazo, trompazo, cebollazo (a blow, impact or slap), golpear (to hit, slap or strike)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does whack come from?

Uncertain. Originally Scottish; probably onomatopoeic, but compare Middle English thakken, from Old English þaccian (whence Modern thwack by conflation with whack). Sense 6 of the verb is likely a semantic loan from Malay hentam (“to strike; to do something carelessly”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after whack