honk
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To make a loud, harsh sound like a car horn.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hahngkIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhɑŋk
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitive
To make a loud, harsh sound like a car horn.
intransitive
To make the vocal sound of a goose.
Make a loud noise
Use the horn of a car
informal
To squeeze playfully, usually a breast or nose.
noun
The harsh note produced by a typical car horn.
The cry of a goose (or any sound resembling this)
The cry of a goose or similar bird.
A white (Caucasian) person.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To make a loud, harsh sound like a car horn.
Used this way, honk is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.