See erk in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_number": 1,
"etymology_text": "Claimed to be a respelling of the abbreviation airc for aircraftsman; or else from irk.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "erks",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "erk (plural erks)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "British English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "22 22 56",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "5 4 26 1 8 1 1 7 29 2 14",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 8 entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "3 2 27 1 9 1 1 4 1 5 31 1 14",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
185,
189
]
],
"ref": "2004, Andrea Levy, chapter 9, in Small Island, London: Review, page 345:",
"text": "But I wasn’t accepted for flying duty—eyesight failed me. Neither was Frank, which, I’m ashamed to say, I found a relief. We were both channelled as aircrafthands, known to everyone as erks.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A member of the groundcrew in the RAF."
],
"id": "en-erk-en-noun-nDATqWyg",
"links": [
[
"groundcrew",
"groundcrew"
],
[
"RAF",
"RAF"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(British, slang) A member of the groundcrew in the RAF."
],
"tags": [
"British",
"slang"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-erk.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4e/En-au-erk.ogg/En-au-erk.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/En-au-erk.ogg"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɜː(ɹ)k"
}
],
"word": "erk"
}
{
"derived": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0",
"word": "erky"
}
],
"etymology_number": 2,
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "intj",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"glosses": [
"An expression of trepidation; eek."
],
"id": "en-erk-en-intj-tQXIEpJg",
"links": [
[
"trepidation",
"trepidation#English"
],
[
"eek",
"eek"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(colloquial) An expression of trepidation; eek."
],
"tags": [
"colloquial"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Australian English",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
7,
10
]
],
"ref": "1959, D'Arcy Niland, The Big Smoke, page 43:",
"text": "‘Gawd, erk!’ She recoiled and turned away.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
1,
4
]
],
"ref": "1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, page 29:",
"text": "‘Erk! What’s that big ugly growth you’ve got?’",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An expression of revulsion or disgust; yuck."
],
"id": "en-erk-en-intj-EiEFMnZ0",
"links": [
[
"revulsion",
"revulsion#English"
],
[
"disgust",
"disgust#English"
],
[
"yuck",
"yuck"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(Australia, colloquial) An expression of revulsion or disgust; yuck."
],
"tags": [
"Australia",
"colloquial"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-erk.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4e/En-au-erk.ogg/En-au-erk.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/En-au-erk.ogg"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɜː(ɹ)k"
}
],
"word": "erk"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English interjections",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"Pages with 8 entries",
"Pages with entries",
"Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)k",
"Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)k/1 syllable"
],
"etymology_number": 1,
"etymology_text": "Claimed to be a respelling of the abbreviation airc for aircraftsman; or else from irk.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "erks",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "erk (plural erks)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"British English",
"English slang",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
185,
189
]
],
"ref": "2004, Andrea Levy, chapter 9, in Small Island, London: Review, page 345:",
"text": "But I wasn’t accepted for flying duty—eyesight failed me. Neither was Frank, which, I’m ashamed to say, I found a relief. We were both channelled as aircrafthands, known to everyone as erks.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A member of the groundcrew in the RAF."
],
"links": [
[
"groundcrew",
"groundcrew"
],
[
"RAF",
"RAF"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(British, slang) A member of the groundcrew in the RAF."
],
"tags": [
"British",
"slang"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-erk.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4e/En-au-erk.ogg/En-au-erk.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/En-au-erk.ogg"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɜː(ɹ)k"
}
],
"word": "erk"
}
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English interjections",
"English lemmas",
"Pages with 8 entries",
"Pages with entries",
"Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)k",
"Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)k/1 syllable"
],
"derived": [
{
"word": "erky"
}
],
"etymology_number": 2,
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "intj",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English colloquialisms"
],
"glosses": [
"An expression of trepidation; eek."
],
"links": [
[
"trepidation",
"trepidation#English"
],
[
"eek",
"eek"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(colloquial) An expression of trepidation; eek."
],
"tags": [
"colloquial"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"Australian English",
"English colloquialisms",
"English terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
7,
10
]
],
"ref": "1959, D'Arcy Niland, The Big Smoke, page 43:",
"text": "‘Gawd, erk!’ She recoiled and turned away.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
1,
4
]
],
"ref": "1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, page 29:",
"text": "‘Erk! What’s that big ugly growth you’ve got?’",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"An expression of revulsion or disgust; yuck."
],
"links": [
[
"revulsion",
"revulsion#English"
],
[
"disgust",
"disgust#English"
],
[
"yuck",
"yuck"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(Australia, colloquial) An expression of revulsion or disgust; yuck."
],
"tags": [
"Australia",
"colloquial"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-erk.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4e/En-au-erk.ogg/En-au-erk.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/En-au-erk.ogg"
},
{
"rhymes": "-ɜː(ɹ)k"
}
],
"word": "erk"
}
Download raw JSONL data for erk meaning in English (3.1kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-02-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.