Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US black) an unattractive, easily available woman.

1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 43: When you’re in, the worst shank you ever had becomes like a movie star.
1966		J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 29: She’s not like these other scanks around here. She’s real nice.
1972		(con. 1950s) Jacobs & Casey Grease I ii: One of those skanks we’ve seen around.
1973		M. Scorsese Mean Streets [film script] 86: Girls? You call those skanks girls?
1974		(con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 33: His sister was a royal skank who fucked for a dime.
1980		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 6: skank – pick-up prospects, sluts.
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 113: One of those thin nervous skanks who were always irritable and difficult and lacking in femininity.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 171: skank 1. cheap-looking, ugly, unprincipled, snooty, or condescending girl, bitch.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 341: We gonna freak this skank when her head gets bad.
1997		G. Sikes 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 107: They were just skanks, bitches, sleazes, easy lays. Hos.
2001		Sydney Morning Herald (Aus.) 6 Jan. n.p.: So here’s a tentative guide to Sydney teenspeak: [...] Skank (a girl who is perceived to be ‘easy’).
2004		T. Fey Mean Girls [movie script] It was time to turn our attention to the army of skanks.
2009		Times (2) 30 Apr. 7/4: A psychotic, whoring [...] skank.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 28: Tommy DeLuca left a trail of skanks he was sleeping with.
2012		R. Milward Kimberly’s Capital Punishment (2023) 174: A rubber-gloved tramp-skank.
2014		T. Black Artefacts of the Dead [ebook] He didn’t see anyone paying for an all-nighter with a skank like Leanne.
2020		C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 326: ‘This is a skank-free zone. You’ll have to take your babes somewhere else’.

2. (US black) a female who smells badly.

1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 144: Skunk, skank, and bait refer to a female who smells badly.
1999		Eble Campus Sl. Apr.
2002		W.D. Myers Handbook for Boys 106: ‘I don’t mess with no funky women [...] If they don’t keep themselves clean and nice, I don’t even talk to them. If you see some skank [...] she won’t be on my arm’.

3. (US) a prostitute.

1977		E. Torres Q&A 169: All I want is a little boy action. I’m tired of those syphilated skanks uptown.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 156: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Stank. Gank. Skank. Stomp.
2008		J. Lansdale Leather Maiden 213: ‘They wanted me to pay for some skank they managed who didn’t know how to give a blow-job’.

4. (US campus) a repulsive person of either sex.

1973		L. Shecter On the Pad 162: If you don’t have your own apartment, you’re some kind of skank.
1988		Eble Campus Sl. Mar.
1996		Eble Campus Sl. Sept. 6: an unlikeable or mean person.
2006		C. Hiaasen Nature Girl 12: Go screw yourself, you dried up old skank.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 62: [She] might even flirt a little with the bartender if he wasn’t a skank.

5. (US) filth, malevolence, dirtiness.

2002		(con. 1980s) i80s.com 🌐 skank 1. Physically dirty, filth.
2002		D.H. Sterry Chicken (2003) 9: I curl into the skank of the mattress.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Jungletown Jihad’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 352: She skimmed skank in the National Tattler.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 28: ‘You’ve got better skank than this [...] I could give your three issues’ worth’.

6. an unsatisfactory situation.

2001

Sydney Morning Herald (Aus.) 6 Jan. n.p.: So here’s a tentative guide to Sydney teenspeak: [...] Skank (a displeasing situation).

7. a mean, mercenary person.

2001

OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 skank n. [...] mercenary or thrifty (in a ‘picking pennies out of the bin’ kind of way) You skanky b*****d, you are such a skank!

8. (also skankface) on bad = good model, an affectionate term of address.

2001

Eble Campus Sl. Fall 10: SKANK – common nickname or greeting: ‘Hey, SKANK, how was class today?’ Also SKANKFACE.