punk [L16th] Long before the days of punk rock in the 1970s all sorts of people found themselves labelled as punks. In the past the word has been used as a term for a prostitute, a male homosexual, and in show business for a youth or young animal. In American English it has been used since the early 20th century as a disparaging word for a person and in particular a young hooligan or petty criminal. The original punk was not a person at all, but, in 17th-century North America, a term for soft crumbly wood that has been attacked by fungus. This was used as tinder as it caught fire easily. Its ultimate origin is not known, although it probably related to spunk [M16th], which originally meant a spark, a fire or tinder, before developing the senses ‘courage and determination’ [L18th], and ‘semen’ [L19th] which is itself of uncertain origin.