Junk

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /d͡ʒʌŋk/

Definitions

1. Waste materials or objects that are regarded as worthless
2. Items considered without value and thrown away ; to get rid of something by throwing it away or selling it as no longer useful
3. Objects that are no longer wanted or needed due to poor quality or damage ; to dispose of belongings or sell them cheaply because they are unwanted

Etymology: The surprising twist is that the English word for cast-off clutter began as a sailor's term for worn-out rope. In Middle English, "junk" named old cable or rope, and it was often cut into bits and used as caulking to seal gaps in a ship's timbers. Its origin is uncertain, and while it is often linked to Old French "jonc" ("rush" or "reed") from Latin "iuncus", the Oxford English Dictionary finds no evidence of that connection. The sense then drifted from ship's scraps to refuse in general, and the word's other English meaning comes from a different source entirely. A "junk" as a sailing vessel traces back through Portuguese "junco" and Dutch "jonk" to Malay "jong", and ultimately to Old Javanese "joṅ", meaning "seagoing ship". Both words share a seafaring origin, which makes the modern sense of discarded objects a curious echo of the old nautical one.

Synonyms: trash, garbage, rubbish, debris, waste

Antonyms: treasure, valuable, asset, gem, prize