Cronker

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. Australian slang describing something broken, faulty, or in poor working order, or a person who is feeling unwell
2. An informal Australian term for an object that no longer works properly or an ailing person or animal
3. Used in Australian slang to mean broken, malfunctioning, or in bad shape, and sometimes of someone feeling sick

Etymology: "Cronker" is a British and Australian slang word, most often heard in the phrase "on the cronker," meaning broken or out of order, and it also serves as an adjective for a machine or body part that has stopped working. Its origins are obscure. Dictionaries generally treat it as a later slang formation rather than a word with a traceable classical or dialect ancestry, and no reliable earlier source has been identified that explains it. The most likely connection is to "conk" and related words such as "konk," which in British and Australian slang have long meant to break down or to stop working, as in an engine that has conked out. Words of this shape often gain an extra syllable or a "-er" ending in informal speech, and that pattern may explain "cronker," but this link rests on resemblance rather than documented descent, so it should be taken as a plausible guess.