kinky
Americanadjective
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kinkier,
comparative
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kinkiest
superlative
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full of kinks; closely twisted.
a kinky wire.
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(of hair) closely or tightly curled.
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Slang. marked by unconventional sexual preferences or behavior, as fetishism, sadomasochism, or the like.
adjective
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slang given to unusual, abnormal, or deviant sexual practices
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informal exhibiting unusual idiosyncrasies of personality; quirky; eccentric
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informal attractive or provocative in a bizarre way
kinky clothes
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tangled or tightly looped, as a wire or rope
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tightly curled, as hair
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of kinky
Explanation
Kinky is a word for unusual things: especially things that are sexually unusual. It's also a term for frizzy hair. As a general term, kinky can refer to anything that is far-out, quirky, or offbeat. More specifically, this is a sexual term for acts that are a little odd, such as a foot fetish. There's also kinky hair: hair with tight curls that is also called crisp, frizzy, and nappy. There's isn't any connection between kinky hair and the first two meanings of kinky. Words just mean different things, and no one knows exactly why.
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:
Philomina Kane, a hair-care content creator who goes by NaturallyPhilo, launched KIN — which stands for “Keep It Naturally” — in response to the lack of inclusive headwear for people with kinky and curly hair.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2022
“Until fairly recently, the Black person was self-conscious about his curly, kinky hair,” he told The New York Times in 1971.
From New York Times ● Jul. 6, 2022
The cultural politics surrounding Black women’s natural hair, from loose curls to kinky coils, stretch back hundreds of years.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2022
She, too, has seen how, over the past decade, there has been an extreme focus on encouraging women of African ancestry to celebrate their kinky, curly and coily hair texture.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 4, 2022
This man had gray in his kinky hair; her father didn’t look the way he had when she’d been small.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
The hair at the nape of the neck, which is typically shorter, kinkier and considered more difficult to style.
From Seattle Times ● May 27, 2023
If you have a kinkier, coarser hair texture, you can easily spend three or four hours on what we call “wash day.”
From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2017
They are beyond square, which is to say that they are stranger, kinkier and more interestingly individual than David, Rose, Kenny or Casey.
From New York Times ● Aug. 6, 2013
But just as a botanical insurrection seems imminent —a sort of “Rise of the Planet of the Azaleas” — things take a kinkier and daffier turn.
From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2012
Did he have Hope and Dell's loose curls or my tighter, kinkier hair?
From "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson
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.
