Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗To throw away. · To find something for very little money (meaning derived from the term junkshop) · To consume junk food, mainly at a fast-food restaurant.
Miscellaneous items of little value, especially discarded or unwanted items. · Material or resources of poor quality or low value, especially resources that lack commercial value. · Nonsense; gibberish. · Any narcotic drug, especially heroin.
From earlier meaning "old refuse from boats and ships", from Middle English junk, jounke, jonk, joynk (“an old cable or rope”, nautical term), sometimes cut into bits and used as caulking; of uncertain origin; perhaps related to join, joint, juncture. Often compared to Middle English junk, jonk, jonke, junck (“a rush; basket made of rushes”), from Old French jonc, from Latin iuncus (“rush, reed”); however, the Oxford English Dictionary finds "no evidence of connexion".
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
This page abbreviates 6 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "junk"
},
"expansion": "Middle English junk"
},
{
"name": "unc",
"args": {
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},
"expansion": "uncertain"
},
{
"name": "ncog",
"args": {
"1": "enm",
"2": "junk"
},
"expansion": "Middle English junk"
},
{
"name": "ncog",
"args": {
"1": "fro",
"2": "jonc"
},
"expansion": "Old French jonc"
},
{
"name": "ncog",
"args": {
"1": "la",
"2": "iuncus",
"t": "rush, reed"
},
"expansion": "Latin iuncus (“rush, reed”)"
}
],
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[
"junk",
"junk#Middle_English"
],
[
"jounke",
"jounke#Middle_English"
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[
"jonk",
"jonk#Middle_English"
],
[
"joynk",
"joynk#Middle_English"
],
[
"join",
"join#English"
],
[
"joint",
"joint#English"
],
[
"juncture",
"juncture#English"
],
[
"junk",
"junk#Middle_English"
],
[
"jonk",
"jonk#Middle_English"
],
[
"jonke",
"jonke#Middle_English"
],
[
"junck",
"junck#Middle_English"
],
[
"jonc",
"jonc#Old_French"
],
[
"iuncus",
"iuncus#Latin"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To throw away.",
"To find something for very little money (meaning derived from the term junkshop)",
"To consume junk food, mainly at a fast-food restaurant."
],
"tags": [
"informal",
"transitive",
"intransitive"
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},
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"Miscellaneous items of little value, especially discarded or unwanted items.",
"Material or resources of poor quality or low value, especially resources that lack commercial value.",
"Nonsense; gibberish.",
"Any narcotic drug, especially heroin."
],
"tags": [
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"slang"
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"sourceRecordOrdinal": 177219
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"lexicalSenses": 6,
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}
}