pronk
pronk verb: to jump with all four limbs at once.
Verb
pronk (third-person singular simple present pronks, present participle pronking, simple past and past participle pronked)
- To jump with all four limbs at once.
- Like stotting, pronking is a signal of medium excitation and is performed more often by fawns than by adults (1, 16).1991, Richard Estes, The Behavior Guide to African Mammals: Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, Primates, Univ of California Press, →ISBN, page 83
- Why do Springbok pronk? Pronking is the jumping up in the air they are famous for. Various theories exist, equating pronking to fitness displays. Most of the pronking is done by young animals and […]2004, Sean Nicholson, Namibian Wildlife - An Alternative Guide for the Traveller on Safari, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 14
Noun
pronk (plural pronks)
- A gait or a leap in which all four legs are used to push off the ground at once.
Synonyms of pronk
Forms of pronk
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | pronks |
| present participle | pronking |
| past participle | pronked |
| past | pronked |
| alternative form | prong |
| Noun | |
| plural | pronks |
Origin of pronk
From Afrikaans pronk (“to show off, strut, or prance”), from Dutch pronken (“to show off, be flamboyant”). See also prank.
Questions about pronk
- What does pronk mean?
- Pronk means to jump with all four limbs at once.
- What part of speech is pronk?
- Pronk can be a verb or a noun.
- What is the past tense of pronk?
- The past tense of pronk is pronked.
Words near pronk in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pronk (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:
Cite this entry: “pronk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pronk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.