Word.ws English Dictionary

hanky panky

hanky panky is the alternative spelling 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.

Forms of hanky panky

pluralhanky pankies

Questions about hanky panky

What is hanky panky the alternative spelling of?
Hanky panky is the alternative spelling of hanky-panky.

Words near hanky panky in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hanky panky (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hanky panky.wav.

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