different between dank vs dalk

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dæ?k/
• (æ-tensing) IPA^(key): /de??k/
• Rhymes: -æ?k

Etymology 1

From Middle English danke (“wet, damp; dampness, moisture”), probably from North Germanic, related to Swedish dank (“marshy spot”), Icelandic dökk (“pool”), Old Norse d?kk (“pit, depression”), from Proto-Germanic *dankwaz (“dark”). However, some trace it to a West Germanic source such as Dutch damp (“vapor”) or Middle High German damph, both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dampaz (“smoke, steam, vapor”).

Adjective

dank (comparative danker, superlative dankest)

1. Dark, damp and humid.
   • 1835, Richard Chenevix Trench, The Story of Justin Martyr

     Cheerless watches on the cold, dank ground.

   • 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, XXII:

     Who were the strugglers, what war did they wage, / Whose savage trample thus could pad the dank / Soil to a plash? [...]

2. (figuratively, of marijuana) Highly potent.

3. (slang, often ironic) Great, awesome.

Derived terms

• danken
• dankly
• dankness
• dank meme

Translations

Noun

dank (plural danks)

1. Moisture; humidity; water.
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book VII, verse 441:

     "Yet oft they quit | The dank, and rising on siff pennons, tow'r | the mid aerial sky"

Etymology 2

From Middle English danken, from the adjective (see above).

Verb

dank (third-person singular simple present danks, present participle danking, simple past and past participle danked)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To moisten, dampen; used of mist, dew etc.

References

Etymology 3

Alternative forms

• danek

Noun

dank (plural danks)

1. A small silver coin formerly used in Persia.

Anagrams

• D. Kan., N. Dak., NKDA, kDNA, kand, kdna

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??k/
• Hyphenation: dank
• Rhymes: -??k

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch danc, from Old Dutch *thank, from Proto-Germanic *þankaz.

Noun

dank m (uncountable)

1. gratitude, thanks
2. show/token of recognition
3. reward, recompense

Synonyms

• dankbetoon
• dankbetuiging
• dankzegging

Antonyms

• ondank

Derived terms

• danken
• dankbaar
• dankloos
• dankwoord
• dankzeggen
• plasdank
• stank voor dank

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

dank

1. first-person singular present indicative of danken
2. imperative of danken

German

Etymology

Cognate with danken and Dutch dank; compare the Latin gr?tia.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a?k

Preposition

dank (+ genitive or dative)

1. thanks to, because of

Related terms

• danken
• bedanken
• Dank m, Undank

Further reading

• “dank” in Duden online

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dank/, [da?k]

Noun

dank m

1. tax, fine, levy, duty

Declension

Further reading

• dank in Manfred Starosta (1999): Dolnoserbsko-nimski s?ownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch. Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag.

Luxembourgish

Verb

dank

1. second-person singular imperative of danken

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English dalke, dalk, from Old English dalc (“clasp, buckle, brooch, bracelet”), from Proto-Germanic *dalkaz (“clasp, pin”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?elg- (“to stick; needle, pin”). Cognate with Icelandic dálkur (“cloak-pin”), Latin falx (“scythe”). Doublet of falx.

Noun

dalk (plural dalks)

1. A pin; brooch; clasp

Etymology 2

From Middle English dalke; perhaps a diminutive of dale, dell. In that case from Old English *daluc, from Proto-Germanic *dalukaz.

Alternative forms

• delk

Noun

dalk (plural dalks)

1. (now rare) A hollow or depression.
   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 120:

     On a sunny September morning, with the trees still green, but the asters and fleabanes already taking over in ditch and dalk, Van set out for Ladoga, N.A.

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch dadelijk, whence also the Afrikaans doublet dadelik (“immediately”). For a possible sense shift from “immediately” to “possibly” compare dialectal English drekly from directly. Note, however, that the Dutch adjective also used to mean “really, actually, indeed” (for which now daadwerkelijk, inderdaad); from this the Afrikaans sense can be derived simply through semantic weakening.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dalk/

Adverb

dalk

1. perchance, perhaps, possibly

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English dalc, from Proto-Germanic *dalkaz.

Noun

dalk

1. Alternative form of dalke (“brooch”)

Etymology 2

From Old English *daluc.

Noun

dalk

1. Alternative form of dalke (“depression”)