berk

British

/ bɜːk /

noun

slang a stupid person; fool

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of berk

C20: shortened from Berkeley or Berkshire Hunt rhyming slang for cunt

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"I will spread this story that berk bought 28MM of shares," Passos allegedly texted a colleague.

From Reuters • Apr. 24, 2023

Only a lumbering berk like him would suggest holding it in the country’s most comically out of touch room.

From The Guardian • Dec. 20, 2019

Hawkey says he felt like a bit of a "berk" as he began to describe his artistic concept to the miners.

From BBC • Oct. 16, 2014

Ridiculing players always offers a hostage to fortune and who but the most charmless berk would complain when they have the last laugh?

From The Guardian • Sep. 28, 2010

Gul sad berk, the Rose of a hundred leaves.

From The Complete Poems of Sir Thomas Moore Collected by Himself with Explanatory Notes by Rossetti, William Michael

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023