Hunk
/hʌŋk/noun
A large piece or lump of something; also, an attractive, strongly built person.
Did you know?The word’s history is messy and partly uncertain, but it’s generally traced through dialect and possibly Low German/Dutch forms connected to a protruding mass, which is why its modern meanings still feel so physically solid.
Etymological Timeline
15th-16th Century
English
hunk
“A large piece, lump, or mass of something”
16th-17th Century
Scots/English Dialect
hunk
“A thick piece or clump; a bulky mass”
Early Modern Period
Low German/Dutch
hunk / hunk-
“A lump or protuberance (proposed source or close dialectal influence)”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*hunk-
“Not securely reconstructed; the deeper origin is uncertain”
Modern English
English
hunk
“A large piece; by extension, a physically attractive man”