
Illustration: Anu Garg
A.Word.A.Daywith Anu Garg
wonky
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
adjective:
1. Unreliable; unsteady; not working properly.
2. Concerned with minute details in a field; nerdy.
ETYMOLOGY:
For 1: Of uncertain origin, perhaps from dialectal wanky, alteration of wankle, from Old English wancol (unsteady).Earliest documented use: 1919.
For 2: Of uncertain origin, perhaps related to the first term or the term wanky. Earliest documented use: 1978.
I always thought wonk was the reverse spelling of “know” which somehow came out of the Clinton administration.
Interesting.