hunky
1 Americanadjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hunky1
An Americanism dating back to 1860–65; from obsolete New York City slang term hunk, used especially by boys at play for home base, home (the goal); from Dutch honk “post, station, base, home” + -y 1 ( def. ); see also hunky-dory ( def. )
Origin of hunky2
First recorded in 1910–15; hunk + -y 1
Origin of hunky3
First recorded in 1905–10; (bo)hunk ( def. ) + -y 2 ( def. )
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:
They’re making charming, hunky appearances at late-night talk shows and Hollywood awards ceremonies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
At the end of the performance, the duo threw dozens of heart-shaped pillows into the audience, all containing the phrase "te amo", supposedly stitched by their hunky counterparts.
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2025
You come out of the theater realizing that your hunky idol had negligible screen time — at least you think so.
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2025
In the hit TV show, the character Sydney Adamu, a Black unapologetically ambitious sous-chef, is attempting to help the show’s hunky, emotionally touchy male protagonist transform his dead brother’s sandwich shop into a Michelin-star restaurant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2023
He’s so awesomely gorgeous and manly and hunky.
From "Please Ignore Vera Dietz" by A.S. King
“The Stockyards’ owners imported Billy Sunday to divert their underpaid hunkies from going on strike by shouting them dizzy with God,” he tells us.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 4, 2019
Harris Burnham, hearing his aunt thus condemn his excursion into socialistic journalism, replies by going to work with the hunkies in a copper mill.
From Time Magazine Archive
The bear howled murder as the stuff ran into his eyes, and plunking himself on his hunkies, he began to paw and scrape it out.
From Red Saunders' Pets and Other Critters by Phillips, Henry Wallace
He looked like a shorter, hunkier Robert Redford, immediately getting more of my attention than I usually gave to the next fare.
From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2016
Then there’s Steve Jobs, as played by his hunkier lookalike Ashton Kutcher — that should have lured some people to the box office.
From Time ● Aug. 18, 2013
Our age demands something hunkier, less menacing, sort of a surfer dude to help us catch the curl of our last wave gracefully.
From Time Magazine Archive
First of all, George Clooney is both hunkier and a better actor than Chad Everett.
From Time Magazine Archive
Gidget, the character, reads literature, plays the cello and surfs only with dudes, wooing the hunkiest one: Moondoggie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2023
The period drama starring Aidan Turner as the hunkiest man in Cornwall ends its five-season run on “Masterpiece.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2019
So who cared about the world premiere of Dr. No, the first film made from Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, or about the introduction of Sean Connery as Her Majesty’s hunkiest secret servant?
From Time ● Oct. 5, 2012
Ponder beat the Twins’ catcher/heartthrob Joe Mauer in a Minneapolis radio contest to determine the region’s hunkiest athlete.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2011
An' Billy ain't none back'ard admittin' he is, an' allows on hesitatin' it's the hunkiest baby in Arizona.
From Wolfville by Lewis, Alfred Henry
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.
