English Explanatory Dictionary

punkie

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A small two-winged fly or midge of the family Ceratopogonidae, which bites and then sucks the blood of mammals; a biting midge or sandfly.
noun
  1. In full punkie lantern: a lantern similar to a jack-o'-lantern consisting of a gourd such as a pumpkin or a root vegetable such as a mangelwurzel or swede which has been hollowed out, in which a candle has been placed; these are chiefly displayed during Punkie Night in late October.
noun
  1. Synonym of pumpkinseed (“a North American sunfish, Lepomis gibbosus”).

Pronunciation

/ˈpʌŋki/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-punkie.wav

Word forms

punkie punkies punkey punky

Etymology

From Jersey Dutch *punkje + English -ie (diminutive suffix). *Punkje is derived from Delaware Munsee *pónkwes + Dutch -je (diminutive suffix); and *pónkwes from Proto-Algonquian *penkw- (“ashes; dust”) (whence Unami punkw (“dust”); probably referring to the insects’ small size) + *-ehs- (diminutive suffix). Compare the name of the Pennsylvania, USA, borough Punxsutawney (from Unami punkwës utènay (“sandfly town”)).

Synonyms

noseeum no-see-um sandflea pumpkinseed

Derived words

Punkie Night
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on P Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary