Ronk

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having a rank, rotten or disagreeable smell or taste, as in dialect use of the word
2. Describing something foul-smelling or sour, particularly food or air that has gone bad
3. Used in some regional English to mean rancid, strong-smelling or unpleasantly stale

Etymology: The adjective "ronk" is an old northern and Scots form of "rank," and its story starts with pride rather than smell. Old English "ranc" meant something like proud, haughty, or brave, and it is related to the German "rank," meaning slender or supple. From there the sense shifted to vigour, so that a strong, luxuriant plant was "rank," and then to excess, so that anything overgrown or coarse could be called rank. The unpleasant sense came last. By the later medieval period, "rank" had come to describe a strong, offensive smell, the sense that dominates today. Because "ronk" survived mainly in dialect, the early meanings linger there more visibly than in standard English.

Synonyms: rank