spunky
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of spunky
Explanation
A spunky person is someone who's high spirited and brave. The hero of a fairy tale is often described as spunky. It takes a spunky traveler to cheerfully find her way across a busy city without a map, and a spunky kindergartner might march bravely into school on the first day. Someone who's spunky isn't just courageous — there's an implied pep or eagerness to the word as well. The word spunky comes from the 1530's Scottish meaning of spunk, "a spark," which is rooted in the Gaelic word spong, "tinder, pith, or sponge."
Vocabulary lists containing spunky
English Words Derived from Gaelic
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"Rogue Wave" by Theodore Taylor
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Beverly Cleary Turns 100!
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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.
In other travel news this week, there were obits galore for spunky Spirit Airlines after it went out of business early Saturday.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
"We will always feel blessed to have had this beautiful spunky ray of light in our lives. She will live on in our hearts forever!"
From BBC • Jul. 5, 2025
In the photo, Halsey adorns a spunky pixie haircut and overplucked skinny eyebrows to pay homage to O'Riordan's cherry red short hairdo and overall '00s punk rock aesthetic.
From Salon • Oct. 15, 2024
“In cinema’s first few decades, women reporters were spunky and smart romantic foils — Hildy Johnson in ‘His Girl Friday’; Lois Lane in the Superman franchise,” Cogan wrote.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 25, 2024
I wondered if it would be the kind with a spunky girl on the cover.
From "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead
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.
