lank

American  

[langk] / læŋk /

adjective

lanker, lankest

1. (of plants) unduly long and slender.

   lank grass; lank, leafless trees.

2. (of hair) straight and limp; without spring or curl.

3. lean; gaunt; thin.

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lank ¹ British  

/ læŋk /

adjective

1. long and limp

2. thin or gaunt

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lank ² British  

/ læŋk /

adjective

1. informal a lot; a great deal

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Other Word Forms

• lankness
  noun
• lankly
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of lank

before 1000; Middle English lanc, Old English hlanc; akin to Old High German hlanca loin, side. Cf. flank

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Explanation

Lank can describe grass that is long, hair that is limp, and people who are tall and thin. From the Old English hlanc (which is fun to say out loud), meaning loose and empty, lank is an adjective used to describe plant life which is long and slender, hair that hangs long and limp, and people who are long and slim. So you might hire a lank basketball player with lank hair to cut the grass when it’s lank. Or you might cut it yourself.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lank lanker lankest

His clean-cropped hair has grown out lank and shaggy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025

Her hair is lank, unwashed, and she hides herself in oversized clothes.

From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2022

“He looks convincingly ancient, with lank white hair and stubbly beard, and he performs with the creaky, painful movements of a weary, stiff-jointed old man.”

From New York Times ● Aug. 15, 2022

As toxic algal blooms in the Klamath basin's main lank threaten the also-endangered suckerfish a month earlier than "normal," water is in short supply and dead juvenile chinook salmon are found every day.

From Fox News ● Jul. 14, 2021

Her hair was lank and dull and she had a plain, pale, rather heavy face.

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

There’s one scene in which she backcombs it in a garage forecourt before reappearing, her hair lanker than ever.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 20, 2015

One or two I knew who insisted on sticking to "principles," and they grew leaner and lanker day by day.

From Zone Policeman 88; a close range study of the Panama canal and its workers by Harry Alverson Franck

The old man rubbed his bristling jaw, that seemed even lanker than when Bartley saw it last.

From A Modern Instance by William Dean Howells

"My land! he's lanker 'n a bean-pole," exclaimed Mrs. Eichorn, in disgust.

From Lovey Mary by Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice

So as he grew bigger and fatter, she grew thinner and lanker, till you would hardly have recognized this long, gaunt, white fur bag of bones for the plump beast of the previous autumn.

From Children of the Wild by Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts

Male Bonding are not the first non-US band to be on Sub Pop, but it still feels like a gesture, even an assertion of sorts, albeit a drawled one muffled by the lankest of fringes.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 28, 2010

He was the puniest, lankest, and leanest of any we had seen on the hacienda, and his single garment was the dirtiest.

From Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Vol. I. by John L. Stephens

The second man of the trio was the lankest and leanest person in the whole forest, and was called Slim Schlurker.

From Tales of the Caravan, Inn, and Palace by Wilhelm Hauff

West Virginia hogs are the longest, lankest, boniest animals in creation.

From The Citizen-Soldier or, Memoirs of a Volunteer by John Beatty

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