Podunk
[poh-duhngk]
- any small and insignificant or inaccessible town or village: After a year in the big city, I was ready to move back to Podunk.
Show More
Origin of Podunk
1660–70, Americanism; generic use of Podunk, village near Hartford, Conn.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for podunk
Contemporary Examples
But that kid from Podunk, now unloading freight at the big-box store, is a universe away from Oxford and a Capuchin friar buddy.
Historical Examples
The village of Podunk looks down on the neighboring town of Hardscrabble.
The GalaxyVarious
I have an engagement to trim a deacon in Podunk this evening.
Get-Rich-Quick WallingfordGeorge Randolph Chester
As the Podunk Gazette would say, 'A very pleasant time was had by all.'
On Secret ServiceWilliam Nelson Taft
He also had other holdings "neer Podunk," and "on ye highway leading to Farmington."
In obedience to this inexorable law Podunk was making ready.
Word Origin and History for podunk
Podunk
legendary small town, 1846, originally the name of a small group of Indians who lived around the Podunk River in Connecticut; the tribe name is in colonial records from 1656 (as Potunck), from southern New England Algonquian (Mohegan or Massachusetts) Potunk, probably from pautaunke, from pot- "to sink" + locative suffix -unk, thus "a boggy place." Its popularity as the name of a typical (if mythical) U.S. small town dates from a series of witty "Letters from Podunk" which ran in the "Buffalo Daily National Pilot" newspaper beginning Jan. 5, 1846.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper