scanger

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A person who is associated with petty criminality and who is seen as strongly identified with brand names in music, clothing, sport, vehicles, and so forth.

Word forms

scanger scangers skanger

Etymology

According to A Dictionary of Hiberno-English: : "Much of the influence comes from London where the origins of the word 'skanger' can be found. I'm pretty certain this is a collapsed form of the word "scavenger" from a West Indian word used by the Caribbean community in London." Dolan's dictionary gives the West Indian slang word "skanker", meaning an untrustworthy or unreliable person, as a possible source of the word. Originally, in 1980s Dublin, it referred only to women but has become broadened to men in recent years.

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.