"thunk" meaning in English

See thunk in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Interjection

IPA: /θʌŋk/ Audio: en-us-thunk.ogg [US]
Rhymes: -ʌŋk Etymology: Onomatopoeic. Etymology templates: {{onomatopoeic|en}} Onomatopoeic Head templates: {{en-interj}} thunk
  1. Representing the dull sound of the impact of a heavy object striking another and coming to an immediate standstill, with neither object being broken by the impact.
    Sense id: en-thunk-en-intj-AcSELnIF
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Noun

IPA: /θʌŋk/ Audio: en-us-thunk.ogg [US] Forms: thunks [plural]
Rhymes: -ʌŋk Etymology: Said by the inventors to be from the irregular jocular past tense of think (see Etymology 1), being coined when they realised that the type of an argument in ALGOL 60 could be predetermined at compile time (with a little compile-time “thought”). Etymology templates: {{m|en|think}} think Head templates: {{en-noun}} thunk (plural thunks)
  1. (computing, functional programming) A delayed computation. Categories (topical): Computing
    Sense id: en-thunk-en-noun-6Tm39XCX Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences
  2. (computing) In the Scheme programming language, a function or procedure taking no arguments. Categories (topical): Computing
    Sense id: en-thunk-en-noun-oZ7kZK7o Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences
  3. (computing) A specialized subroutine that one software module uses to execute code in another module. Categories (topical): Computing
    Sense id: en-thunk-en-noun-PTpFG04m Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: thunking [noun]
Etymology number: 3

Verb

IPA: /θʌŋk/ Audio: en-us-thunk.ogg [US]
Rhymes: -ʌŋk Etymology: By analogy with past tenses and past participles ending in "-unk", such as drunk and sunk. Etymology templates: {{m|en|drunk}} drunk, {{m|en|sunk}} sunk Head templates: {{head|en|verb form}} thunk
  1. (humorous, nonstandard) past participle of think Tags: form-of, humorous, nonstandard, participle, past Form of: think Derived forms: who would have thunk it, who'd have thunk it, who'd've thunk it
    Sense id: en-thunk-en-verb-BL16~UJr
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Verb

IPA: /θʌŋk/ Audio: en-us-thunk.ogg [US] Forms: thunks [present, singular, third-person], thunking [participle, present], thunked [participle, past], thunked [past]
Rhymes: -ʌŋk Etymology: Onomatopoeic. Etymology templates: {{onomatopoeic|en}} Onomatopoeic Head templates: {{en-verb}} thunk (third-person singular simple present thunks, present participle thunking, simple past and past participle thunked)
  1. To strike against something, without breakage, making a "thunk" sound.
    Sense id: en-thunk-en-verb-iz4YN6uk
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Verb

IPA: /θʌŋk/ Audio: en-us-thunk.ogg [US] Forms: thunks [present, singular, third-person], thunking [participle, present], thunked [participle, past], thunked [past]
Rhymes: -ʌŋk Etymology: Said by the inventors to be from the irregular jocular past tense of think (see Etymology 1), being coined when they realised that the type of an argument in ALGOL 60 could be predetermined at compile time (with a little compile-time “thought”). Etymology templates: {{m|en|think}} think Head templates: {{en-verb}} thunk (third-person singular simple present thunks, present participle thunking, simple past and past participle thunked)
  1. (computing, functional programming, transitive) To delay (a computation). Tags: transitive Categories (topical): Computing
    Sense id: en-thunk-en-verb-XmdrevfP Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences
  2. (computing, transitive) To execute (code) by means of a thunk. Tags: transitive Categories (topical): Computing
    Sense id: en-thunk-en-verb-Jb7PwvLI Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 3

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for thunk meaning in English (10.3kB)

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        {
          "text": "Who would have thunk those guys would have a problem with a little lie?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk that the skunk stunk.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1939, “If I Only Had a Brain”, Harold Arlen (music), E.Y. Harburg (lyrics) (music), performed by Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, from The Wizard of Oz",
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          "type": "example"
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          "text": "Coordinate term: closure"
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          "text": "Not surprisingly, a thunk is more expensive to store than a single number[…].",
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        "(computing) In the Scheme programming language, a function or procedure taking no arguments."
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        "(computing) A specialized subroutine that one software module uses to execute code in another module."
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{
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      "word": "who'd have thunk it"
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      "word": "who'd've thunk it"
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          "text": "Who would have thunk those guys would have a problem with a little lie?",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk that the skunk stunk.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1939, “If I Only Had a Brain”, Harold Arlen (music), E.Y. Harburg (lyrics) (music), performed by Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, from The Wizard of Oz",
          "text": "I could think of things I never thunk before ...",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
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        "(humorous, nonstandard) past participle of think"
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      "tags": [
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{
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "intj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Representing the dull sound of the impact of a heavy object striking another and coming to an immediate standstill, with neither object being broken by the impact."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/θʌŋk/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʌŋk"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-thunk.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/60/En-us-thunk.ogg/En-us-thunk.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/En-us-thunk.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "thunk"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en"
      },
      "expansion": "Onomatopoeic",
      "name": "onomatopoeic"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Onomatopoeic.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "thunks",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "thunking",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "thunked",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "thunked",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "thunk (third-person singular simple present thunks, present participle thunking, simple past and past participle thunked)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I was thunked on the head by his stick.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To strike against something, without breakage, making a \"thunk\" sound."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/θʌŋk/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʌŋk"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-thunk.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/60/En-us-thunk.ogg/En-us-thunk.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/En-us-thunk.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "thunk"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 3,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "think"
      },
      "expansion": "think",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Said by the inventors to be from the irregular jocular past tense of think (see Etymology 1), being coined when they realised that the type of an argument in ALGOL 60 could be predetermined at compile time (with a little compile-time “thought”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "thunks",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "thunk (plural thunks)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "word": "thunking"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Computing"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Coordinate term: closure"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Bryan O'Sullivan, John Goerzen, Donald Bruce Stewart, Real World Haskell, O'Reilly, page 97",
          "text": "Not surprisingly, a thunk is more expensive to store than a single number[…].",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A delayed computation."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "computing",
          "computing#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "functional programming",
          "functional programming"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "functional programming",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(computing, functional programming) A delayed computation."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "computing",
        "engineering",
        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "sciences"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Computing"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In the Scheme programming language, a function or procedure taking no arguments."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "computing",
          "computing#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "Scheme",
          "Scheme"
        ],
        [
          "function",
          "function"
        ],
        [
          "procedure",
          "procedure"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(computing) In the Scheme programming language, a function or procedure taking no arguments."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "computing",
        "engineering",
        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "sciences"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Computing"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "October 10 1995, PC Mag, volume 14, number 17, page 326",
          "text": "If the provider of these DLLs has not updated the code to a 32-bit environment, you will have to switch to a new 32-bit library or write thunks between your 32-bit code and the 16-bit DLL.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A specialized subroutine that one software module uses to execute code in another module."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "computing",
          "computing#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "subroutine",
          "subroutine"
        ],
        [
          "software",
          "software"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(computing) A specialized subroutine that one software module uses to execute code in another module."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "computing",
        "engineering",
        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/θʌŋk/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʌŋk"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-thunk.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/60/En-us-thunk.ogg/En-us-thunk.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/En-us-thunk.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "ALGOL 60",
    "Free On-line Dictionary of Computing"
  ],
  "word": "thunk"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 3,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "think"
      },
      "expansion": "think",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Said by the inventors to be from the irregular jocular past tense of think (see Etymology 1), being coined when they realised that the type of an argument in ALGOL 60 could be predetermined at compile time (with a little compile-time “thought”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "thunks",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "thunking",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "thunked",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "thunked",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "thunk (third-person singular simple present thunks, present participle thunking, simple past and past participle thunked)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "en:Computing"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009, Bryan O'Sullivan, John Goerzen, Donald Bruce Stewart, Real World Haskell, O'Reilly, page 97",
          "text": "Not surprisingly, a thunk is more expensive to store than a single number, and the more complex the thunked expression, the more space it needs. For something cheap such as arithmetic, thunking an expression is more computationally expensive than calculating it immediately.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To delay (a computation)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "computing",
          "computing#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "functional programming",
          "functional programming"
        ],
        [
          "computation",
          "computation"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "functional programming",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(computing, functional programming, transitive) To delay (a computation)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "computing",
        "engineering",
        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "sciences"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "en:Computing"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "May 16 1995, Andrew Schulman, “DOS is Dead? Look Again”, in PC Mag, volume 14, number 9, page 150",
          "text": "This efficiency is offset by the fact that some of the calls made by Win32 apps must now be thunked down to 16 bits, something that isn't necessary in Windows NT and OS/2.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To execute (code) by means of a thunk."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "computing",
          "computing#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(computing, transitive) To execute (code) by means of a thunk."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "computing",
        "engineering",
        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/θʌŋk/"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ʌŋk"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-thunk.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/60/En-us-thunk.ogg/En-us-thunk.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/En-us-thunk.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "ALGOL 60",
    "Free On-line Dictionary of Computing"
  ],
  "word": "thunk"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-03-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-03-01 using wiktextract (68773ab and 5f6ddbb). 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.