lank

/ˈlæŋk/US/ˈleɪ̯ŋk/

lank adjective: slender or thin; not well filled out; not plump; shrunken; lean.

Adjective

lank (comparative lanker, superlative lankest)

Slender or thin; not well filled out; not plump; shrunken; lean.
- Run barefoot up and down, threat’ning the flames
  With bisson rheum; a clout upon that head
  Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe,
  About her lank and all o’erteemed loins,
  A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up;c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- […] who would not chuse […] to have rather a lank purse than an empty brain […] ?1700, Isaac Barrow, Sermon XXII “Of Industry in our particular Calling, as Scholars,” in The Works of the Learned Isaac Barrow, D.D., London: John Tillotson, 2nd edition, Volume III, p. 226
Synonyms:

lithe
(obsolete) Meagre, paltry, scant in quantity.
- We should think him a very imprudent Husbandman, that to save a little seed at present, would sow so thin, as to spoil his crop. And the same folly ’twill be in us, if by the sparingness and niggardize of our Almes, we make our selves a lank Harvest hereafter, and lose the reward God hath provided...1659, Samuel Cradock, Knowledge & Practice, Or, A Plain Discourse of the Chief Things Necessary to be Known, Believ’d & Practised in order to Salvation, London: John Rothwell, Chapter 17, Of the...
- The Captain was inclined to be bald, but he brought a quantity of lank iron-grey hair over his pate, and had a couple of whisps of the same falling down on each side of his face.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC
Synonyms:

insufficient
Straight and flat; thin and limp. (Often associated with being greasy.)
- The Inhabitants most simple, and treated them with great affection. Of Colour more inclined to white, of Body strong and comly, lank Hair, and long Beards, their Cloaths of very fine Mats […]1695, John Stevens (translator), The Portugues Asia; or, The History of the Discovery and Conquest of India by the Portugues, by Manuel de Faria e Sousa, London: C. Brome, Chapter 10, p. 291
- Their heads and breasts were covered with a thick hair, some frizled, and others lank; they had beards like goats, and a long ridge of hair down their backs, and the fore-parts of their legs and feet […]1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, (please specify |part=I to IV), page 129
(obsolete) Languid; drooping, slack.
- The water-nymphs, that in the bottom played,
  Held up their pearled wrists, and took her in,
  Bearing her straight to aged Nereus’ hall;
  Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head,
  And gave her to his daughters to imbathe […]1634, John Milton, Comus, lines 833–837
- Let us weigh the promises of the one and of the other in the balance of truth, and we shall finde that the promises of God are gold, and the promises of the devil are Alchimy, such which though they glitter much, have no worth or excellency in them. […] God’s, are substantial realities, and his...1655, William Spurstowe, chapter 18, in The Wels of Salvation Opened, London: Ralph Smith, pages 249–250
Synonyms:

lax, loose, nutant

Verb

lank (third-person singular simple present lanks, present participle lanking, simple past and past participle lanked)

(intransitive, rare) To become lank.
- […] on the Alps
  It is reported thou didst eat strange flesh,
  Which some did die to look on: and all this—
  It wounds thine honour that I speak it now—
  Was borne so like a soldier, that thy cheek
  So much as lank’d not.c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...

Noun

lank (plural lanks)

A clump of lank hair.
- Then he sat down on the edge of the bed and, his auburn hair coming down in glossy lanks over his right temple, his striped tie dangling out of the front of his gray jacket, his bulky gray-flanneled knees parted, zestfully opened the book.1957 March 7, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 4.8, in Pnin, Heinemann, page 108

Proper noun capitalized: Lank

Lank (plural Lanks)

A surname.

lank meaning in Urdu, Malayalam, Kannada and Persian

lank in Malayalam

lifeless, limp, lusterless: നീണ്ടതും ചുരുളില്ലാത്തതുമായ, കോലൻ, അചേതന, വിജീവ, ജീവനില്ലാത്ത, തിളക്കമില്ലാത്ത
lanky, slim, tall: നീണ്ടുമെലിഞ്ഞ, ചടച്ചുനീണ്ട, എല്ലൻകോരിയായ, കോലനായ, കൂരച്ച, കൂരിയായ

lank in Kannada

ನೀಳವಾಗಿರುವ, ಜೋತಿರುವ, ನೇತಾಡುವ, ಬಡಕಲಾದ, ಸಣಕಲಾದ, ಕೃಶವಾದ

Examples of lank in a sentence

[…] while I stood in the dark, a hand touched mine, lank fingers came feeling over my face, and I was sensible of a peculiar unpleasant odour.1895 May 29, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 6, in The Time Machine: An Invention, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC:
Blacks in the fields, lank and stooped, their fingers spiderlike among the bolls of cotton.1985, Cormac McCarthy, chapter 1, in Blood Meridian […] , →OCLC:
She had a thin awkward figure, a sallow skin without colour, dark lank hair, and strong features—so much for her person; and not less unpropitious for heroism seemed her mind.1803 (date written), [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please...
Down from his head to his shoulders hung long, yellow, lank locks and within this enclosure was an old bony face, the forehead seamed with a thousand wrinkles.1940, Hugh Walpole, The Bright Pavilions, London: Macmillan, Part I:

Synonyms of lank

All synonyms of lank

Forms of lank

Adjective
comparative	lanker
superlative	lankest
Verb
third-person singular present	lanks
present participle	lanking
past participle	lanked
past	lanked
Noun
plural	lanks
Proper noun
plural	Lanks

Origin of lank

From Middle English lank, from Old English hlanc, from Proto-West Germanic *hlank, from Proto-Germanic *hlankaz (“lank, thin”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleng- (“to bend, turn, wind, twist”); compare German lenken (“to turn”), Gelenk (“joint”), Old High German hlanca (“hip, side, flank”), and English link (of a chain).

Words formed from lank

Words that rhyme with lank

34 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about lank

What does lank mean?: Lank means slender or thin; not well filled out; not plump; shrunken; lean.
What is lank in Urdu?: Lank in Urdu is ڈھیلا, دبلا, لاغر. See Lank meaning in Urdu.
How do you use lank in a sentence?: […] while I stood in the dark, a hand touched mine, lank fingers came feeling over my face, and I was sensible of a peculiar unpleasant odour.
What part of speech is lank?: Lank can be an adjective, a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce lank?: Lank is pronounced /ˈlæŋk/.

Words near lank in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: lank (page history and authors); Lank (page history and authors); lank (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lank (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); lank (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lank.wav.

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