"erk" meaning in English

See erk in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Interjection

Audio: En-au-erk.ogg [Australia]
Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)k
  1. (colloquial) An expression of trepidation; eek. Tags: colloquial
    Sense id: en-erk-en-intj-tQXIEpJg
  2. (Australia, colloquial) An expression of revulsion or disgust; yuck. Tags: Australia, colloquial
    Sense id: en-erk-en-intj-EiEFMnZ0 Categories (other): Australian English
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: erky
Etymology number: 2

Noun

Audio: En-au-erk.ogg [Australia] Forms: erks [plural]
Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)k Etymology: Claimed to be a respelling of the abbreviation airc for aircraftsman; or else from irk. Etymology templates: {{m|en|aircraftsman}} aircraftsman, {{m|en|irk}} irk Head templates: {{en-noun}} erk (plural erks)
  1. (British, slang) A member of the groundcrew in the RAF. Tags: British, slang
    Sense id: en-erk-en-noun-nDATqWyg Categories (other): British English, English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 16 37 47
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for erk meaning in English (3.1kB)

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  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "aircraftsman"
      },
      "expansion": "aircraftsman",
      "name": "m"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "irk"
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      "expansion": "irk",
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  ],
  "etymology_text": "Claimed to be a respelling of the abbreviation airc for aircraftsman; or else from irk.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "erks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "erk (plural erks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "16 37 47",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "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",
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        [
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(British, slang) A member of the groundcrew in the RAF."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
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      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɜː(ɹ)k"
    },
    {
      "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",
      "tags": [
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      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
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  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English"
  ],
  "word": "erk"
}

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      "_dis1": "0 0",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
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    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "An expression of trepidation; eek."
      ],
      "id": "en-erk-en-intj-tQXIEpJg",
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        ],
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        "(colloquial) An expression of trepidation; eek."
      ],
      "tags": [
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    },
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Australian English",
          "parents": [],
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1959, D'Arcy Niland, The Big Smoke, page 43",
          "text": "‘Gawd, erk!’ She recoiled and turned away.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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",
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        ],
        [
          "yuck",
          "yuck"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Australia, colloquial) An expression of revulsion or disgust; yuck."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia",
        "colloquial"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "rhymes": "-ɜː(ɹ)k"
    },
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      "audio": "En-au-erk.ogg",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/En-au-erk.ogg",
      "tags": [
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    "Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)k/1 syllable"
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  "etymology_templates": [
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        "2": "aircraftsman"
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        "2": "irk"
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      "expansion": "irk",
      "name": "m"
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  "forms": [
    {
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      "tags": [
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          "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"
        }
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        "A member of the groundcrew in the RAF."
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        "(British, slang) A member of the groundcrew in the RAF."
      ],
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  "sounds": [
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      "rhymes": "-ɜː(ɹ)k"
    },
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      "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",
      "tags": [
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  "derived": [
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  "lang": "English",
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      "glosses": [
        "An expression of trepidation; eek."
      ],
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          "trepidation",
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          "eek",
          "eek"
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        "(colloquial) An expression of trepidation; eek."
      ],
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        {
          "ref": "1959, D'Arcy Niland, The Big Smoke, page 43",
          "text": "‘Gawd, erk!’ She recoiled and turned away.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": [
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          "revulsion",
          "revulsion#English"
        ],
        [
          "disgust",
          "disgust#English"
        ],
        [
          "yuck",
          "yuck"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Australia, colloquial) An expression of revulsion or disgust; yuck."
      ],
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        "Australia",
        "colloquial"
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      "rhymes": "-ɜː(ɹ)k"
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    {
      "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",
      "tags": [
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      "text": "Audio (AU)"
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-24 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (82c8ff9 and f4967a5). 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.