different between lizard vs skunk

English

Etymology

From Middle English lesarde, lisarde, from Anglo-Norman lusard, from Old French lesard (compare French lézard), from Latin lacertus. Displaced native Middle English aske (“newt, lizard”); see ask.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?l?z.?d/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?l?z.?d/

Noun

lizard (plural lizards)

1. Any reptile of the order Squamata that is not a snake, usually having four legs, external ear openings, movable eyelids and a long slender body and tail.
2. (chiefly in attributive use) Lizard skin, the skin of these reptiles.
   • 1990 October 28, Paul Simon, “Proof”, The Rhythm of the Saints, Warner Bros.

     Silver bells jingling from your black lizard boots, my baby / Silver foil to trim your wedding gown

3. (colloquial) An unctuous person.
4. (colloquial) A coward.
5. (rock paper scissors) A hand forming a "D" shape with the tips of the thumb and index finger touching (a handshape resembling a lizard), that beats paper and Spock and loses to rock and scissors in rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock.
6. (in compounds) A person who idly spends time in a specified place, especially a promiscuous female.

   lounge lizard; lot lizard; beach lizard; truck stop lizard

Derived terms

Translations

Middle English

Noun

lizard

1. Alternative form of lesarde

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk??k/
• Rhymes: -??k

Etymology 1

From an unattested Southern New England Algonquian word, cognate with Abenaki segôgw, segonku (“he who squirts (musk) / urinates”), from Proto-Algonquian *šeka·kwa, from *šek- (“to urinate”).

Noun

skunk (plural skunks)

1. Any of various small mammals, of the family Mephitidae, native to North and Central America, having a glossy black with a white coat and two musk glands at the base of the tail for emitting a noxious smell as a defensive measure.
   • 1634, William Wood, New Englands Prospect:

     The bea?ts of offence be Squunckes, Ferrets, Foxes, who?e impudence ?ometimes drives them to the good wives Hen roo?t […]

2. (slang, derogatory) A despicable person.
3. (slang) A walkover victory in sports or board games, as when the opposing side is unable to score.

   Coordinate term: shutout

4. (cribbage) A win by 30 or more points. (A double skunk is 60 or more, a triple skunk 90 or more.)

Derived terms

• drunk as a skunk
• skunk at a garden party
• skunky

Descendants

• ? Czech: skunk
• ? Danish: skunk
• ? German: Skunk
• ? Finnish: skunkki
• ? French: skunks
• ? Icelandic: skunkur
• ? Japanese: ???? (sukanku)
• ? Norwegian: skunk
• ? Polish: skunks
• ? Russian: ????? (skuns)
• ? Slovak: skunk
• ? Swedish: skunk

Translations

Verb

skunk (third-person singular simple present skunks, present participle skunking, simple past and past participle skunked)

1. (transitive) To defeat so badly as to prevent any opposing points.

   I skunked him at cards.

   We fished all day but the lake skunked us.

2. (cribbage) To win by 30 or more points.
3. (intransitive, of beer) To go bad, to spoil.

See also

• Mephitis
• Spilogale
• Conepatus
• polecat

Etymology 2

Blend of skinhead +? punk, influenced by the animal (Etymology 1).

Noun

skunk (plural skunks)

1. A member of a hybrid skinhead and punk subculture.
   • 2006, Pam Nilan, Carles Feixa, Global Youth?: Hybrid Identities, Plural Worlds (page 192)

     In the early 1980s, certain ex-punks joined them, becoming 'skunks' – a hybrid subculture of skinheads and punks.

   • 2011, Gerard DeGroot (quoting Brown), Seventies Unplugged

     […] mods, skins, suedes, smoothies, punks, skunks, rude boys, soul boys and headbangers […]

Etymology 3

From skunkweed (“certain highly aromatic marijuana”)

Noun

skunk (countable and uncountable, plural skunks)

1. (slang) Clipping of skunkweed (marijuana).
2. Any of the strains of hybrids of Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica that may have THC levels exceeding those of typical hashish.

Czech

Noun

skunk m

1. skunk (animal)

Further reading

• skunk in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• skunk in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English skunk.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk??k/
• Hyphenation: skunk

Noun

skunk m (uncountable)

1. skunk, weed with a high level of THC

Swedish

Noun

skunk c

1. a skunk

Declension