Word of the day - Hunk

The word hunk either means "a thick mass of", "a large piece of", "lump", or "a handsome, sexually appealing, well built man".

The etymology of the word hunk is usually attributed to the Flemish word hunke "a piece of food". Another possible origin of the word is from the back-clipping of the word Hungarian from the 18th century, cf Bohunk (portmanteau of Bohemian + hunk). It should be noted that in this sense hunk or bohunk is actually a derogatory, offensive ethnic slur, originally referred to an unskilled laborer from Austria-Hungary or Bohemia, later any stupid, clumsy muscular immigrant with no brain from Central or eastern Europe. Nowadays the word hunk usually does not refer to the ethnic slur, calling a man as a hunk is almost always complementing his physical appearance.

The word hunk should not be confused with the word hulk. Hulk originally meant "a huge ship", later "a big, clumsy person" or "an excessively muscled person", from Middle English hulke, from Old English hulc, from Greek holkás "trading vessel".