Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Funk |
FunkNoun1. A state of nervous depression; "he was in a funk". 2. United States biochemist (born in Poland) who showed that several diseases were caused by dietary deficiencies and who coined the term `vitamin' for the chemicals involved (1884-1967). Verb1. Draw back, as with fear. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "funk" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1866. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Funk To be in a funk may be the Walloon "In de fonk zün, " literally to "be in the smoke." Colloquially to be in a state of trepidation from uncertainty or apprehension of evil. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Slang in 1811 | FUNK. To smoke; figuratively, to smoke or stink through fear. I was in a cursed funk. To funk the cobler; a schoolboy's trick, performed with assafoettida and cotton,which are stuffed into a pipe: the cotton being lighted, and the bowl of the pipe covered. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Funk is a vigorous African American style of music developed mainly by James Brown and his band members (especially Maceo and Melvin Parker) on the one hand and groups like The Meters on the other hand. In the 1970s, George Clinton developed a new kind of funk he termed P Funk. Other prominent representatives of the genre in the 1970s: Bootsy Collins, Larry Graham, Ohio Players, The Commodores, War, Earth, Wind and Fire, Mass Production, Slave, Lakeside, and many more. In the 1980s, funk lost some of its audience as bands became more commercial and music more electronic. Today, hip hop artists regularly sample old funk tunes, sometimes for the purpose of waking them up to new recognition.
Funk can be best recognized by syncopated rhythm, thick bass line (often based on "on one" beat), razor-sharp rhythm guitars, yowlish vocals (as that of Cameo or Bar-Kays), strong rhythm-oriented brass section, percussion instruments, happiness in style, African tones, dance floor audience, and strong jazzy influences (e.g. as in Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Eddie Harris, and others).
Disco music owes a great deal to funk.
Funk music was exported back to Africa in the mid to late 1960s, and melded with African singing and rhthyms to form Afrobeat.
Note: Despite its name, Grand Funk Railroad is not a funk band; it is a straight rock band.
See also: list of funk musicians
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Funk."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Funk is a village located in Phelps County, Nebraska. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 204.Geography
Funk is located at 40°27'49" North, 99°14'60" West (40.463724, -99.249915)1. According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.7 km² (0.3 mi²). 0.7 km² (0.3 mi²) of it is land and none of it is covered by water.Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 204 people, 77 households, and 65 families residing in the village. The population density is 291.7/km² (769.7/mi²). There are 82 housing units at an average density of 117.3/km² (309.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the village is 98.04% White, 0.00% African American, 0.00% Native American, 0.49% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.98% from other races, and 0.49% from two or more races. 1.47% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 77 households out of which 37.7% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 74.0% are married couples living together, 10.4% have a female householder with no husband present, and 14.3% are non-families. 14.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 7.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.65 and the average family size is 2.92. In the village the population is spread out with 29.9% under the age of 18, 3.9% from 18 to 24, 22.5% from 25 to 44, 25.0% from 45 to 64, and 18.6% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 42 years. For every 100 females there are 98.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 88.2 males. The median income for a household in the village is $36,250, and the median income for a family is $43,333. Males have a median income of $22,292 versus $20,833 for females. The per capita income for the village is $15,658. 15.3% of the population and 7.1% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 32.7% are under the age of 18 and 4.3% are 65 or older.Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Funk, Nebraska."
Synonyms: FunkSynonyms: blue funk (n), cringe (v), flinch (v), quail (v), recoil (v), shrink (v), squinch (v), wince (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Cowardice | Verb: quail; (fear); be cowardly; Adjective:, be a coward; Noun: funk; cower,skulk, sneak; flinch, shy, fight shy, slink, turn tail; run away; (avoid); show, the white feather. |
Poltroonery, baseness; dastardness, dastardy; abject fear, funk; Dutch courage; fear; white feather, faint heart; cold feet , yellow streak. | |
Fear | Nervousness, restlessness; Adjective: inquietude, disquietude, worry, concern; batophobia; heartquake; flutter, trepidation, fear and trembling, perturbation, tremor, quivering, shaking, trembling, throbbing heart, palpitation, ague fit, cold sweat; abject fear; (cowardice); mortal funk, heartsinking, despondency; despair. |
Hesitate; (be irresolute); falter, funk, cower, crouch; skulk; (cowardice); let " I dare not" wait upon "I would "; take fright, take alarm; start, wince, flinch, shy, shrink; fly; (avoid). | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Funk |
| English words defined with "funk": funk hole ♦ To funk out. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "funk": General Funk ♦ Sendmail Inc. ♦ TO FUNK. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Funk" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses. German (funk, radio, wireless). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Hey! Funk you (Coming to America; writing credit: David Sheffield) | |
Lyrics | Hot funk, cool punk, even if it's old junk (It's Still Rock and Roll To Me; performing artist: Billy Joel) Hard times in the Funk (Funkdafied; performing artist: Da Brat) Funk Doc how we do it (Left & Right Featuring Method Man And Redman; performing artist: D'Angelo) Funk, you, right on up (Keep Their Headz Ringin; performing artist: Dr. Dre) Check it out now, the funk soul brother (The Rockafeller Skank; performing artist: Fatboy Slim) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Immaculate Funk (2000) Layin' Da Funk (1999) Fakin' Da Funk (1997) Funk (1976) | |
Song Titles | The Locomotion (performing artist: Grand Funk Railroad) The Loco-motion (performing artist: Grand Funk Railroad) We're an American Band (performing artist: Grand Funk Railroad) BAD TIME (performing artist: Grand Funk Railroad ) I Got My Mind Made Up (performing artist: Instant Funk) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
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| "Jamiroquai's odyssey 01" by Nicholas Sales Commentary: "My funk oyssey's cd :)." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Play | Caption | Play | Caption |
| Groovy, funk style piece quite typical of the early hip hop years. | A pop excerpt very typical of an mid-1980's style with funk and Latin influences. | ||
| Slap-bass and techno drums playing in a hard Detroit-style funk. | |||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Bill Hicks | I don't do drugs any more...than the average touring funk band. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | He put us all into a blue funk. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Funk" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 88.17% of the time. "Funk" is used about 93 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 88.17% | 82 | 36,594 |
| Noun (proper) | 5.38% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 4.3% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 1.08% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (common) | 1.08% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 93 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "funk" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Funk | Last name | 9,000 | 1,448 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
1. Funk, NE (village, FIPS 17880) |
Expressions using "funk": be in a blue funk ♦ be in a funk ♦ blue funk ♦ casimir Funk ♦ funk hole ♦ funk money ♦ Peter Funk ♦ To funk out. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "funk": funk-filled, funk-mc, funk-metal, funk-oriented, funk-punk-dirge. | |
Ending with "funk": jazz-funk, P-funk. | |
Containing "funk": retro-funk-by-numbers. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
funk | 504 | car flex funk master show | 24 |
grand funk railroad | 353 | funk video | 23 |
grand funk | 144 | g funk | 21 |
funk planet | 137 | brooklyn funk essential | 20 |
forum funk | 130 | disco funk | 19 |
funk brother | 128 | funk of the 70s | 18 |
funk music | 104 | era funk g | 18 |
terry funk | 80 | trouble funk | 18 |
funk master flex | 64 | funk grand lyrics | 16 |
da funk who | 51 | pure funk | 16 |
con funk shun | 48 | old school funk | 16 |
funk wagnalls | 43 | funk soul brother | 15 |
p funk | 43 | fred funk | 15 |
baile funk | 42 | funk manufacturing | 15 |
dj funk | 38 | da funk lyrics who | 14 |
funk grand lyrics railroad | 36 | dory funk | 13 |
funk software | 34 | funk band | 13 |
son of funk | 31 | funk bass tab | 13 |
bring in da noise bring in da funk | 26 | funk transmission | 13 |
renegades of funk | 25 | funk wagnall | 13 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "funk"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | frikacak (chicken heart, chicken hearted, coward, cowardly, Craven, dastard, dastardly, faint-heart, faint-hearted, milk-livered, poltroon, pusillanimous, recreant, scary, sneak, sneaking, white livered, yellow, yellowbellied, yellow-livered), frikësoj (affright, appal, appall, bluff, browbeat, cow, dismay, fright, frighten, intimidate, scare), trembem (dread, get the wind up, give the willies, quail), shmangem (circumvent, deflect, depart, deviate, diverge, dodge, duck, escape, eschew, fence, fend off, fight shy of, forbear, give a wide berth, glance, jink, jump, keep one's distance, leapfrog, Miss, Parry, refrain, shirk, shun, sidestep, steer clear of, tergiversate, wander), panik (alarm, flap, panic, scare), lemeri (fright, horror, panic, terror), lëshim (coast, concession, discharge, droop, drop, emission, failure, flaccidity, flagging, issuance, issue, launch, launching, laxity, laxness, megrims, profligacy, release, relief, sag, tolerance), kam frikë (be afraid, fear). (various references) | |
Arabic | حجم (bulk, dimension, extent, flinch, format, gage, girth, magnitude, measure, measurement, proportion, refrain, size, volume), خشي (apprehend, awe, be afraid, fear, hesitate), جبن (cheese, quail), جبان (apprehensive, chicken, chicken heart, chicken hearted, coward, cowardly, cur, faint, fearful, fearsome, funky, heartless, lily livered, pigeon-hearted, poor spirited, pusillanimous, scared, sheepish, shy, sissified, sissy, spiritless, timid, timorous, tremulous, unmanly, weak-kneed), إرتاع (be shocked), دغر. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | страхувам се (be afraid, doubt, fear), страхливец (chicken, chicken-liver, coward, dastard, faintheart, yellow belly, yellow dog), страх (alarm, apprehension, dismay, dread, fear, fright, horror, terror), кръшкам от, бягам от (flee), боя се (apprehend, be afraid of, fear), пъзльо (sissy), паникьосвам се (flap, have the jitters, panic), паника (bugaboo, flap, panic, scare, tail spin, tizzy, whim-wham). (various references) | |
Czech | dìsit se èeho (have a horror of smth.). (various references) | |
Dutch | lafaard (coward), bangerd (coward). (various references) | |
Esperanto | timemulo (coward), malkuraĝulo (coward). (various references) | |
Finnish | jänistää (show the white feather). (various references) | |
French | trouille, peureux, lâche, effrayer, avoir peur, avoir le cafard, avoir la trouille. (various references) | |
Frisian | leffert (coward). (various references) | |
German | funk (radio, wireless), schiss (crap), kneifen vor, bammel (jitters). (various references) | |
Greek | φόβοσ (affright, apprehension, consternation, dismay, dread, fear, fearfulness, fright, misgiving, panic, scare, timorousness), φόβος (apprehension, fear, fright), τρόμοσ (consternation, dismay, dread, quake, terror, tremble, trembling, tremor, trepidation), τρομάρα (fright), τρομάζω (alarm, appal, cow, daunt, dismay, frighten, horrify, intimidate, petrify, scare, startle, terrify), δειλός (bashful, chicken-hearted, shy, tentative, timid, yellow). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לפחוד (be afraid, dread, fear). (various references) | |
Hungarian | félelem (affright, apprehension, awe, dismay, dread, fear, phobia, willies), rémület (bewilderment, dismay, dread, fright, horror, scare, terror), beszari alak (candyass). (various references) | |
Indonesian | penakut (chicken, coward, dastard), keadaan takut. (various references) | |
Italian | fifa (fright, Lapwing), timore (alarm, apprehension, awe, dread, fear, fright, misgiving), paura (afraid, anguish, apprehensibility, distress, dread, fear, fright, scare), panico (panic), codardo (coward, cowardly, Craven, dastard, lily livered, recreant, weakling). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | ファロー鹿 (fallow deer, fan, fan club, fancy, fancy ball, fancy dress, fancy food, fancy goods, fancy store, fanfare, fan-jet, fan-out, fantastic, fantasy, feasibility study, feature, feed, feedback, feeder, feeding, feet, foot, foundation, fumble, fun, fun fair, function, function key, functor, fund, fund manager, fund trust, fundamental, fundamentals, funky, phantom). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ファンク . (various references) | |
Manx | towl coadee (fox-hole, funk-hole). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | unkfay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | terror (awe, fear, horror, panic, terror), temer (be afraid of, dread, fear), pavor (consternation, dread, fright, habdabs, horror, terror), pânico (panic, scare), medroso (chicken-hearted, faint-hearted, fearful, fearsome, funky, timid), medo (affright, awe, dismay, dread, fear, fearfulness, fright, intimidation, panic, scare), intimidar (appal, appall, awe, browbeat, concuss, cow, daunt, deter, frighten, hector, intimidate, menace, overawe, threaten, wither), evitar (abstain, avert, avoid, bypass, elude, eschew, evade, fence, flee, foil, forbear, give a cold shoulder to, keep off, parry, preclude, prevent, refrain, shirk, shun, stave off, to avoid, turn a cold shoulder to), covarde (caitiff, chicken-hearted, coward, cowardly, craven, dastard, dastardly, faint-hearted, funky, lily-livered, milk-livered, milksop, pusillanimous, recreant, scaramouch, slag, sneaking, white-livered, yellow-livered), aterrorizar (awe, frighten, terrify, terrorize), assustar (affray, affright, appal, appall, bully, daunt, dismay, frighten, intimidate, scare, startle). (various references) | |
Romanian | fricã (anguish, anxiety, apprehension, fear, fright, palpitation, pusillanimity, scare, yellow), fi laş, speria (affright, alarm, cow, deter, discourage, frighten, horrify, scare, shake, shy, start, terrify), spaimã (affright, agony, bugaboo, dismay, dread, fear, fright, horror, scare, scourge, startle, terror), panicã (alarm, flap, panic, scare, stampede, terror), mare fricos, laş (base-spirited, chicken hearted, coward, cowardly, Craven, cur, dastard, dastardly, faint-hearted, hen-hearted, invertebrate, lily livered, milk-livered, mollycoddle, pigeon-hearted, poltroon, recreant, sneak, sneaky, unmanly, white livered, yellow), i-fi grozav de fricã. (various references) | |
Russian | страх (Angst, awe, dismay, dread, fear, fright, intimidation, phobia, scariness, terror), уклоняться (absent oneself, deflect, deflected, deflecting, deviate, elude, evade, hedge, shirk, sidestep, side-step, stall, weaseled, weaseling), трусить (blench, play the woman), трус (caitiff, capon, chicken, chicken-liver, coward, dastard, faintheart, faint-heart, milksop, pikelet, piker, poltroon, rat, recreant, yellow dog), паника (blue fear, blue funk, panic, scare). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | strah (alarm, creeps, dread, fear, fright, trepidation, wind up), snuždenost (dumps, mopes), plašiti se (be afraid, dread, fear, frighten). (various references) | |
Spanish | tener olor malo, temor (apprehensiveness, awe, fear, fervency, misgiving, temerity), no tener agallas, mieditis (jitters), jindama, gallina (chicken, chicken hearted, fowl, hen, sissy), canguelo, acobardarse (be chicken, be frightened, cower, flinch, quail). (various references) | |
Swedish | rädsla (agony, anguish, chariness, dread, fear, fright, scare). (various references) | |
Turkish | yan çizmek (be evasive, cop out, evade, scrimshank, shirk, sidestep, skulk, sneak out of), korkutmak (administer a shock, affright, alarm, appal, appall, awe, bulldoze, cow, daunt, dismay, fright, frighten, horrify, intimidate, overawe, scare, startle, terrorize, threaten), korku (affright, alarm, apprehension, awe, dismay, dread, fear, fright, gothic, horror, misgiving, phobia, scare, trepidation), korkmak (be afraid, be afraid of, be appalled, be frightened, be scared of, dread, fear, flinch, get a fright, get cold feet, have a fright, have cold feet, quail, scare, show the white feather, shy, sweat blood, take fright), korkak (caitiff, chicken, chicken hearted, chicken-livered, cissy, coward, cowardly, Craven, dastardly, dingo, faint, faintheart, fainthearted, fearful, funky, gutless, hen-hearted, lily livered, milksop, milquetoast, pigeon livered, pigeonhearted, poltroon, poor spirited, pusillanimous, rabbit, recreant, scary, sissy, skulking, sneak, sneaking, sneaky, spiritless, timid, unmanly, weak-spirited, white livered, yellow, yellow dog), kaçınmak (abstain, avoid, balk, baulk, beg, beware, chicken out, dodge, elude, eschew, evade, flee, flee from, flinch, forbear, get out of, keep clear of, refrain, refuse, shirk, short circuit, shun, sidestep, spare, stand aloof, stand apart, stand aside, steer clear of, Stow), hilekâr (cheat, cheater, con, con man, crooked, cross, deceitful, deceiver, double-tongued, faithless, foul, fraud, fraudulent, gadgety, guileful, hard boiled, knavish, trickster, twister), dehşete düşürmek (appal, appall, curdle one's blood, dismay, frighten, horrify, shock, terrify, terrorize), dehşet (alarm, consternation, dismay, dread, fear, fright, frightfulness, horror, terror, trepidation), çekinmek (beware, boggle, chicken out, dread, fear, flee from, flinch, get cold feet, hang back, have cold feet, hesitate, hold back, hold off, keep clear of, shrink, shun, shy, wince, withdraw). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | смуток (damp, dejection, depression, despondency, discouragement, shadow, sorrow), смердіти (reek, stink), лякатися (boggle, get frightened), боятися (be afraid, dread, fear, sneak), переляк (affright, boggle, consternation, fright, scare, startle, willies, wind up), палити (blow, burn, grill, smoke). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sự sợ xanh mắt (blue fear, blue funk), hầm (funk-hole, trench). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | fumigare. (various references) |
| Old French | 900-1400 | fungier. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "funk": funked, funker, funkers, funkia, funkias, funkier, funkiest, funkiness, funkinesses, funking, funks, funky. (additional references) | |
| |
"Funk" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: aunk, fank, fenek, ffank, fonc, Fonck, fonk, Fucka, fuhn, fuk, func, funcd, funch, Funck, funct, fune, funf, fung, funi, Funke, funn, Funna, funo, Funt, furk, fusk, fuxk, unk, zunk. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "funk" (pronounced fu"ngk) |
| 3 | -u" ng k | bunk, chunk, clunk, debunk, drunk, Dunk, flunk, hunk, junk, monk, plunk, punk, shrunk, skunk, Spunk, stunk, sunk, trunk. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "f-k-n-u" | |
-1 letter: fun. | |
-2 letters: nu, un. | |
| Words containing the letters "f-k-n-u" | |
+1 letter: flunk, funks, funky. | |
+2 letters: flunks, flunky, funked, funker, funkia. | |
+3 letters: fluking, flunked, flunker, flunkey, funkers, funkias, funkier, funking, skinful, tankful, unfaked, unfrock. | |
+4 letters: cufflink, faunlike, flunkers, flunkeys, flunkies, flunking, funkiest, outflank, refusnik, skinfuls, tankfuls, thankful, trunkful, unforked, unfrocks. | |
+5 letters: cufflinks, fenugreek, frankfurt, funkiness, outflanks, refusenik, refusniks, trunkfish, trunkfuls, trunksful, unfrocked. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Digital Art 7. Sounds 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Usage Frequency 11. Names: Frequency 12. Cities | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.