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Overview
punk
Quick Reference
An admirer or player of a loud, fast-moving, and aggressive form of rock music popular in the late 1970s, typically characterized by coloured spiked hair and clothing decorated with safety pins or zips; also, this form of music. The terms punk rocker and punk rock are also used.
The word is recorded from the late 17th century in the sense ‘soft crumbly wood that can be used as timber’, and from the early 20th century in the sense ‘a worthless person’; it may also be related to archaic punk ‘prostitute’ and spunk, ‘courage’.
Subjects: Music
