merkin

UK/ˈmɜːkɪn/

merkin noun: a woman's pubic wig. Worn for nude stage appearances and by women, originally after shaving their pubic hair to eliminate lice or for other reasons, now often as a fashion item.

Image: Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

merkin (plural merkins)

A woman's pubic wig. Worn for nude stage appearances and by women, originally after shaving their pubic hair to eliminate lice or for other reasons, now often as a fashion item.
- ... his penis squashed invisible under a flesh-colored leather jockstrap, over which he wears a false cunt and merkin of sable both handcrafted in Berlin by the notorious Mme. Ophir, the mock labia and bright purple clitoris molded of — Madame had been abject, pleading shortage — synthetic rubber...1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow
A mop for cleaning cannon.
(slang) The male counterpart of a beard, a companion to a lesbian to feign her straightness.
- Well, I seem to recall Tori and Patrick being seen together, and a reference in People comes to mind, with a photo attached. I'm not for sure that Patrick is completely gay, but he's at least bi according to a person I know with first hand experience. Perhaps we have a dual merkin-beard...1996 January 10, Colin Wright, “Tori Spelling & Patrick Muldoon on NBC Movie”, in alt.showbiz.gossip (Usenet)

Noun (2)

merkin (plural merkins)

(UK, derogatory, slang) An American.
- For all you non-'merkins: Most 'merkins are idiots, just like the residents of your country. See, most people are idiots. We just have idiots with a higher average income than you do, so they can afford to be better cretins.1998 January 15, Vasilisha, “Internet Oracularities Digest #973”, in rec.humor.oracle.d (Usenet)
- It is, unfortunately, an all-to-common assumption -- sort of like assuming that all posters here are 'merkins. Perhaps it's best to assume that all posters are vertebrates (I was going to type primates, but one of my neutered cats sent a post awhile^([sic]) back).2000 August 2, John Monrad, “One group's thoughts”, in talk.origins (Usenet)

Adjective

merkin (comparative more merkin, superlative most merkin)

(UK, derogatory, slang) American.
- [P]robably a merkin reference which it is expected that the rest of the world will understand?1997 September 17, Dick Eney, quoting Murky, “Please help with Hogfather [A] slight spoiler”, in alt.fan.pratchett (Usenet), archived from the original on 26 Jan 2026
- it's got very merkin lately... too much time on the international circuit probly?2002 August 27, Sky Rider, “Jelena Dokic on ABC noon news”, in aus.tv (Usenet), archived from the original on 26 Jan 2026

Noun (3) capitalized: Merkin

Merkin (plural Merkins)

A cannibalistic tribe native to the Cape York Peninsula.
- How he envied the Merkin people who could live in such bungalows! Yet for most of the year the bungalows were empty, with doors padlocked and windows shuttered. It was only during the "hill season," the two or three months between the northeast and the southwest monsoons, that the Merkin people...1960, Shirley L[ease] Arora, What Then, Raman?, Chicago, I.L.: Follett Publishing Company, page 16
- The big river sang and glittered in the sunlight. It toppled from the mysterious jungle heights of Irukandji territory down huge granite bluffs to hurtle life into the parched inland, tracking westward through the lands of the fierce Merkin tribe.1992, Patricia Shaw, River of the Sun, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 3

Examples of merkin in a sentence

... his penis squashed invisible under a flesh-colored leather jockstrap, over which he wears a false cunt and merkin of sable both handcrafted in Berlin by the notorious Mme.1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:
Perhaps we have a dual merkin-beard relationship here, eh?1996 January 10, Colin Wright, “Tori Spelling & Patrick Muldoon on NBC Movie”, in alt.showbiz.gossip (Usenet):
It is also very merkin (remember the cheese eating surrender monkeys?).2006 August 5, Wm..., “Lexus's^([sic]) are awesome”, in uk.rec.humour (Usenet), archived from the original on 26 Jan 2026:

Forms of merkin

Noun
plural	merkins
alternative form	'merkin
alternative form	Merkin
alternative form	'Merkin
alternative form	murkin
alternative form	'murkin
alternative form	Murkin
alternative form	'Murkin
plural	Merkins
Adjective
comparative	more merkin
superlative	most merkin

Origin of merkin

First attested in 1617, probably a variant form of malkin, from Malde + -kin.

Representing an aphetic pronunciation of American.

Words that rhyme with merkin

Questions about merkin

What does merkin mean?: Merkin means a woman's pubic wig. Worn for nude stage appearances and by women, originally after shaving their pubic hair to eliminate lice or for other reasons, now often as a fashion item.
How do you use merkin in a sentence?: ... his penis squashed invisible under a flesh-colored leather jockstrap, over which he wears a false cunt and merkin of sable both handcrafted in Berlin by the notorious Mme.
What part of speech is merkin?: Merkin can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce merkin?: Merkin is pronounced /ˈmɜːkɪn/ (UK).
What is the plural of merkin?: The plural of merkin is merkins.

Words near merkin in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: merkin (page history and authors); Merkin (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: En-au-merkin.ogg, En-us-merkin.ogg.

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