# dank
## English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /dæŋk/
* (æ-tensing) IPA: /deɪŋk/
* Rhymes: -æŋk
* Audio (Southern England):(file)

### 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 dǫkk (“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)
* Dark, damp and humid.
    The dank cave was chilly and spooky.
** 1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC:Now that the fields are dank and ways are mire.
** 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, section XXII:Who were the strugglers, what war did they wage, / Whose savage trample thus could pad the dank / Soil to a plash? [...]
** 2022 November 30, Nick Brodrick, “Pride and innovation shine at St Pancras”, in RAIL, number 971, page 69:It's a world away from the dank and uninviting St Pancras that British Rail wanted to tear down in the 1960s.
* (figuratively, of marijuana) Moist and sticky, (by extension) highly potent.
    That was dank bud.
* (slang, often ironic) Great, awesome.
** 2018, January 5, Rick Wilson, “Bannon Banished for Telling Truths About Trump as MAGA Monsters Turn on Each Other”, in The Daily Beast‎:His house organ Breitbart and a host of Trump-right websites and news outlets sang praises to his dank genius.

##### Derived terms

* danken
* dankish
* dankly
* dank meme
* dankness
* danksome

##### Translations
#### Noun

dank (uncountable)
* Moisture; humidity; water.
** 1600 or 1601 (date written), I. M. [i.e., John Marston], “The Prologue”, in Antonios Reuenge. The Second Part. […], London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, and are to be soulde [by Matthew Lownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, signature A2, recto:The ravviſh danke of clumzie vvinter ramps / The fluent ſummers vaine: and drizling ſleete / Chilleth the vvan bleak cheek of the numd earth, / VVhilſt ſnarling guſts nibble the iuyceles leaues, / From the nak't ſhuddring branch; […]
** 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:Yet oft they quit | The dank, and rising on siff pennons, tow'r | the mid aerial sky
* (slang) Strong, high-quality cannabis.
** 2015, Scott Jacques, Richard Wright, Code of the Suburb, page 9:Smoking mids will get you about three times higher than shwag, and same for dank—it'll be about six times higher than smoking some mids.

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

#### References

* ↑ Guus Kroonen (2013) Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
* ↑ Pokorny, Julius (1959) “669”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 669
* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “dank”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

### Etymology 3
#### Alternative forms

* danek

#### Noun

dank (plural danks)
* (historical) A small silver coin formerly used in Persia.

### Anagrams

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

## Dutch
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /dɑŋk/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: dank
* Rhymes: -ɑŋk

### Etymology 1

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

#### Noun

dank m (uncountable)
* gratitude, thanks
* show/token of recognition
* reward, recompense

##### Synonyms

* dankbetoon
* dankbetuiging
* dankzegging

##### Antonyms

* ondank

##### Derived terms

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

##### Descendants

* Negerhollands: dank, danki, daṅki
** → Virgin Islands Creole: danki, dankie (archaic)
* → Papiamentu: danki
* → Sranan Tongo: danki, tangi
** → Saramaccan: tangí

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

dank
* inflection of danken:
** first-person singular present indicative
** (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
** imperative

## German
### Etymology

Cognate with danken and Dutch dank; compare the Latin grātia.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -aŋk

### Preposition

dank [with genitive or (formerly) dative]
* thanks to, because of, courtesy of
    Dank seiner Arbeit hat er genug Geld zum Leben.Thanks to his work he has enough money to live.

#### Usage notes

* Dank used to be more common with the dative, but today the genitive is more predominant.
* Personal pronouns, however, normally take the dative, although the genitive is possible in very elevated usage.

#### Related terms

* danken
* bedanken
* Dank m, Undank

### References

* ↑ dank des, dank dem at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
* ↑ dank eines, dank einem at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.

### Further reading

* “dank” in Duden online
* “dank” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

## Lower Sorbian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /dank/, [daŋk]

### Noun

dank m inan
* tax, fine, levy, duty

#### Declension
### Further reading

* Starosta, Manfred (1999) “dank”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

## Luxembourgish
### Verb

dank
* second-person singular imperative of danken