Word.ws English Dictionary

hanky-pankies

hanky-pankies is the plural 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 hanky-pankies

What is hanky-pankies the plural of?
Hanky-pankies is the plural of hanky-panky.

Words near hanky-pankies in the dictionary

  1. hanky codes
  2. hanky pankies
  3. hanky panky
  4. hanky-pank
  5. hanky-panked
  6. hanky-pankies
  7. hanky-panking
  8. hanky-panks
  9. hanky-panky
  10. hanky-twist
  11. hanky-twisted

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hanky-pankies (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: “hanky-pankies.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hanky-pankies. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.