punk
n. countablen. a person who likes loud, fast music and often has a rebellious style, like colorful hair or torn clothes. It can also be a light insult for a young person who is acting tough or rude.
n. a follower of a subculture characterized by anti-establishment views and aggressive rock music; also used as a pejorative for a worthless or insignificant person. Often carries a dismissive or confrontational tone when used as an epithet.
The old punk still wears his leather jacket every day.
Some neighborhood punks were hanging around the park entrance, making the local shopkeepers feel nervous.
While the movement began as a raw rejection of mainstream artifice, the aesthetic of the punk was eventually absorbed into the very fashion industry it once mocked.
Uncertain. Possibly from punk (“rotten wood dust used as tinder”), attested since 1678, to anything worthless (attested since 1869) and then to any undesirable person (since 1908). The relatively tame 21st century usage of punk (“prank”, verb) was popularized by the American television show Punk'd (2003).
Unclear; first attested circa 1680 in writings about Native American practices, probably from Unami punkw (“dust”), though it has also been suggested it could be an alteration of spunk (“tinder”) (compare funk (“rotten wood”)).
Often used as an attributive noun to describe music, fashion, or attitudes.