Word.ws English Dictionary

prank

UK/pɹæŋk/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/pɹaŋk/

prank noun: a practical joke or mischievous trick.

Noun

prank (plural pranks)

  1. A practical joke or mischievous trick.
    • play a prank
    • pull a prank on someone
  2. (obsolete) An evil deed; a malicious trick, an act of cruel deception.
    • She played a cruel prank on him.
    • Lilius Geraldus ſaith,that Hercules after all his mad prankes vpon his wife and children, was perfectly cured by a purge of Hellebor,which an Anticyrian adminiſtred vnto him.1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Simples purging melancholy downeward”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short...

Verb

prank (third-person singular simple present pranks, present participle pranking, simple past pranked, past participle pranked or (archaic) prankt)

  1. (transitive) To perform a practical joke on; to trick and make a fool of someone.
    • “If someone’s pranking me,” Rowlands remembered thinking, “they’re going to great lengths to make it work.”2007 May 13, Karen Crouse, “Still Invitation Only, but Jets Widen Door for Camp”, in New York Times
    1. (transitive) To make a prank call to (someone).
  2. (slang, transitive) To call someone's phone and hang up before they answer, so as to send them a notification (of a missed call) without incurring fees.
    • Hey man, prank me when you wanna get picked up.
    • I don't have your number in my phone; can you prank me?
    Synonyms:
    missed call
  3. (archaic, transitive) To adorn in a showy manner; to dress or equip ostentatiously.
    • In sumptuous tire she ioyd her selfe to prancke1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 36
    • And there a Seaſon atween June and May,
      Half prankt with Spring, with Summer half imbrown'd,
      A liſtleſs Climate made, where, Sooth to ſay,
      No living Wight could work, ne cared even for Play.1748, James Thomson, The Castle of Indolence, B:II
  4. (intransitive) To make an ostentatious show.
    • White houses prank where once were huts.1867, Matthew Arnold, “Obermann Once More”, in New Poems

prank meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Telugu

prank in Hindi

practical joke or mischievous trick
लंगराई laṅgrāī

prank in Tamil

குறும்புச் செயல், குதிப்பு முதலிய செயல்கள், சேட்டை

prank in Bengali

কৌতুক, দুষ্টুমি

prank in Telugu

prank, manœuvre
చమత్కారము camatkāramu
More languagesFewer languages
prank in Malayalam
വിളയാട്ട്, തമാശപ്രയോഗം, പറ്റിക്കൽ
prank in Kannada
ತುಂಟಾಟ, ಹುಡುಗಾಟಿಕೆ, ಹುಚ್ಚಾಟ, ಪೋಕಾಟಿಕೆ
prank in Arabic
مَقْلَب maqlab
prank in Thai
กลอุบาย gon-ù-baai
prank in Vietnamese
trò chơi khăm, chơi khăm

Examples of prank in a sentence

  • He pulled a gruesome prank on his sister.
  • His pranks have been too broad to bear with.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies...
  • The harpies […] played their accustomed pranks.1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC...

All 40 example sentences with prank

Synonyms of prank

7 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of prank

Forms of prank

Noun
pluralpranks
Verb
third-person singular presentpranks
present participlepranking
pastpranked
past participlepranked
past participle (archaic)prankt

Plural of prank: pranks

Origin of prank

Origin uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English pranken (“to adorn, arrange one's attire”), probably from Middle Dutch pronken, proncken (“to flaunt, make a show, arrange one's attire”), related to German prangen (“to make a show, be resplendent”), Dutch prangen (“to squeeze, press”), Danish pragt (“pomp, splendor”), all from Proto-Germanic *pranganą, *prangijaną, *prag- (“to press, squeeze, thring”), from Proto-Indo-European *brengʰ- (“to press, squeeze”). Or, perhaps ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *brahtaz, similar to Dutch pracht (“splendor”), Swedish prakt (“glory, pomp”) (loaned from Low German). Cognate with Middle Low German prunken (“to flaunt”), German prunken (“to flaunt”), Danish prunke (“to make a show, prank”). Sense of "mischievous act" from earlier verbal sense of "to be crafty or subtle, set in order, adjust". See also prink, prance, prong.

Words formed from prank

Phrases with prank

Words that rhyme with prank

34 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about prank

What does prank mean?
Prank means a practical joke or mischievous trick.
What is prank in Hindi?
Prank in Hindi is लंगराई (laṅgrāī). See Prank meaning in Hindi.
How do you use prank in a sentence?
He pulled a gruesome prank on his sister.
What part of speech is prank?
Prank can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce prank?
Prank is pronounced /pɹæŋk/ (UK).
What is the plural of prank?
The plural of prank is pranks.

Words near prank in the dictionary

  1. pranic
  2. pranidipine
  3. praniza
  4. pranizae
  5. Pranjip
  6. prank
  7. prank call
  8. prank called
  9. prank calling
  10. prank calls
  11. prank up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: prank (page history and authors); prank (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prank (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); చమత్కారము (Telugu) (page history and authors); prank (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prank (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-prank.ogg.

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