lank
Americanadjective
-
(of plants) unduly long and slender.
lank grass; lank, leafless trees.
-
(of hair) straight and limp; without spring or curl.
-
lean; gaunt; thin.
adjective
-
long and limp
-
thin or gaunt
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of lank
before 1000; Middle English lanc, Old English hlanc; akin to Old High German hlanca loin, side. Cf. flank
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.
Vocabulary lists containing lank
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
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Let's Go Caroling, List 1
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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:
His clean-cropped hair has grown out lank and shaggy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025
He has lank hair to his shoulders and owlish glasses; he looks like he might start shaving in a year or two.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 20, 2022
Her hair is lank, unwashed, and she hides herself in oversized clothes.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2022
“A bronzed, lank man! His suit of ancient black,//A famous high top-hat and plain worn shawl//Make him the quaint great figure that men love,//The prairie-lawyer, master of us all.”
From Fox News ● Feb. 13, 2019
Then she brushed the lank blond hair and braided it.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
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
He was lying back in the seat with his eyes closed, and the posture made his face seem even lanker and grimmer than it had at first appeared.
From That Affair at Elizabeth by Burton Egbert Stevenson
The rounder it is the stiffer and lanker.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 7 "Gyantse" to "Hallel" by Various
The tutor's shadow, longer, lanker, and more grotesque than himself, mopped and mowed upon the wall beside him.
From The Brownies and Other Tales by Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing
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
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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