noun
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a large piece
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Also called: hunk of a man. slang a well-built, sexually attractive man
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hunk
First recorded in 1805–15, hunk is from the Dutch dialect word hunke
Explanation
A hunk is a piece or a chunk or a lump, something without a definite shape. You might eat a hunk of cheese or play with a hunk of clay. If you call someone a hunk, you think he’s hot. For a casual dinner you might just grab a hunk of bread off the loaf and dip it in beef stew, which is full of hunks of meat and potatoes. A completely different type of hunk is a handsome man: "When did your cousin turn into such a hunk?" Hubba hubba! This second meaning dates from around 1945, from African American slang.
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.
See Examples For:
“I started working here when I was 3 years old,” Castaneda says with a grin before turning to the hunk of hot pastrami he’s placed on a cutting board.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
This fossilised hunk of whale bone has lain hidden in the earth on Portmuck Beach for possibly millennia.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
The site is now a hunk of twisted and blackened metal, surrounding a charred carcass of rubble.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
The toppings are market-flexible, too: Use whatever chèvre or goat cheese you find, whether it crumbles into little pillows or lands in soft clouds, and turn a leftover hunk of cornbread into crisp, salty crumbs.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
There didn’t seem to be any edible food in the refrigerator, apart from a slightly discolored hunk of cheddar cheese.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
It was dark and deeply moist, a little earthy without tasting particularly of vegetables, and studded throughout with hunks of chocolate.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
It’s lunchtime at Fountain Grains & Greens in East Hollywood, a counter-service restaurant where customers increasingly prefer their rice and vegetable bowls piled high with hunks of chicken or steak.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
There is so much demand for these hunks of carbon fiber that bats have entered the stratosphere of products known in the retail industry as “high heat.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026
Aged gray tree hunks form arches, for instance, over bridges that tower over clay-colored paths with hoof prints.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 2026
Her brother sat opposite her with his back to the door devouring hunks of bread smothered with a mixture of peanut-butter and strawberry jam.
From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
