junk

Meaning

Noun

1. (uncountable, usually) Miscellaneous items of little value, especially discarded or unwanted items.
2. (attributive, uncountable, usually) Material or resources of poor quality or low value, especially resources that lack commercial value.
3. (uncountable, usually) Nonsense; gibberish.
4. (slang, uncountable, usually) Any narcotic drug, especially heroin.
5. (slang, uncountable, usually) The genitalia, especially of a male.
6. (uncountable, usually) Salt beef.
7. (uncountable, usually) Pieces of old cable or cordage, used for making gaskets, mats, swabs, etc., and when picked to pieces, forming oakum for filling the seams of ships.
8. (countable, dated, usually) A fragment of any solid substance; a thick piece; a chunk.

Verb

1. (informal, transitive) To throw away.
2. (informal, transitive) To find something for very little money (meaning derived from the term junkshop)

Synonyms

rubbish

trash

scrap

garbage

🗑️

refuse

mess

waste

litter

stuff

odds and ends

discard

detritus

debris

lumber

crap

dust

trifles

vessel

bric-a-brac

rubble

small objects

ditch

dreck

thrash

boat

⛵

pollutants

puncture

put away

retire

sailboat

⛵

sheet metal

ship

🚢

shit

💩

smash up

sweepings

tat

throw away

throw out

toss

total

totaled

trifling

waste material

wreck

old things

scotch

small things

toss away

cheap merchandise

broken piece

Translations

rotzooi

jonque

Dschunke

zootje

zooi

troep

klerezooi

ciarpame

Abfall

rommel

σκουπίδια

cianfrusaglie

Müll

pacotille

bric-à-brac

Pronounced as (IPA)

/d͡ʒʌŋk/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: junk

In summary

From earlier meaning "old refuse from boats and ships", from Middle English junk, jounke, jonk, joynk (“an old cable or rope”, nautical term), sometimes cut into bits and used as caulking; of uncertain origin; perhaps related to join, joint, juncture. Often compared to Middle English junk, jonk, jonke, junck (“a rush; basket made of rushes”), from Old French jonc, from Latin iuncus (“rush, reed”); however, the Oxford English Dictionary finds "no evidence of connexion".