Etymology

plunk

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Today it means: A brief, dull sound, such as the sound of a string of a stringed instrument being plucked, or the thud of something landing on a surface. Full definition →

Dutch plenken
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plunk · noun, adverb, interjection, verb1

Onomatopoeic; the noun is attested earlier than the verb. Noun etymology 1, noun sense 3 (“dollar; large sum of money”) may refer to the sound of a coin hitting a surface. Compare plonk, plink. As regards verb etymology 1, verb sense 1.4 (“(transitive) to drop, set, or throw (something, or oneself) abruptly and/or heavily”) and etymology 1, verb sense 2.4 (“(intransitive) to drop, land, or set abruptly and/or heavily”), compare French plonquer (Picardy), a variant of plonger (“to plunge”).

plunk · verb2

  1. Dutch · derived fromplenken“(archaic) to wander around; (Limburg, archaic) to play truant”
  2. English todayplunk

Origin uncertain; possibly the same as plunk (etymology 1), or related to Dutch plenken (“(archaic) to wander around; (Limburg, archaic) to play truant”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.