janky

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒæŋ.ki/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Etymology 1

From junky.

Adjective

janky (comparative jankier, superlative jankiest)

1. (slang, informal) Of poor quality.

   It's barely holding together, it's so janky.

2. (slang) Strange, odd.
   • 2006, Sarah Ellis, Odd Man Out, Toronto: Groundwood Books, →ISBN, page 97:

     “And look, they don't even call them cigarettes. They call them fun tubes.” “Well, I guess,” said Hillary. “Talk about a janky role model. Candy cigarettes.”

   • 2014 August 7, Smokin', Drinkin', and Chillin' (Black Jesus), episode 1, spoken by Maggie (Kali Hawk):

     We're gonna do some janky shit. When you're doin' janky shit, you wear a mask.

   • 2016 September, “Earth Defense Force”, in Play, number 273, →ISSN, page 64:

     If you love B-movies, crazy sci-fi and intense, janky-as-all-hell videogames, you’ve come to the right place.

References

• OED 2004
• Dalzell and Victor, The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, →ISBN, p. 1252; earliest usage 1999.
• A Way with Words

Etymology 2

Adjective

janky (comparative jankier, superlative jankiest)

1. (computing, colloquial) Unresponsive (of a software application’s user interface), sluggish.
   • 2016, Adam Stroud, Android Database Best Practices‎^[1], Addison-Wesley Professional, →ISBN:

     While the asynchronous HTTP call is running on a background thread (preventing a janky UI, or ANRs), the user can navigate away from the activity after the request has been sent but before the response has been received by the device.

Related terms

• jank