Word.ws English Dictionary

hankey-pankey

hankey-pankey is the alternative form of hanky-panky.

Meaning of hanky-panky

Noun

hanky-panky (countable and uncountable, plural hanky-pankies)

  1. (uncountable) Mischievous behaviour; dishonest or shady activity.
    • I think there was some hanky-panky with the last election.
  2. (uncountable) Amorous behaviour, making out, necking, sex or other sexual activity, especially if illicit.
    • I don't wanna cry / I just wanna hanky panky / Nothing like a good spanky1990, “Hanky Panky”, in I'm Breathless, performed by Madonna
  3. (uncountable) A debaucherous act; a sexual act that is considered inappropriate.
  4. (countable) A cocktail made from gin, sweet vermouth, and Fernet-Branca fernet.

Questions about hankey-pankey

What is hankey-pankey the alternative form of?
Hankey-pankey is the alternative form of hanky-panky.

Words near hankey-pankey in the dictionary

  1. Hankerson
  2. Hankersons
  3. Hankes
  4. Hankeses
  5. Hankey
  6. hankey-pankey
  7. Hankeys
  8. hankie
  9. hankies
  10. Hankin
  11. hankin booby

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hankey-pankey (page history and authors); hanky-panky (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “hankey-pankey.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hankey-pankey. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.