pencil-neck

noun

A person with a very thin neck.

“That pencil-neck from systems isn't going to tell me what I can't do.”

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Meanings

nounpencil-neck (plural pencil-necks)

plural pencil-necks · alternative pencilneck · alternative pencil neck

  1. informalA person with a very thin neck.
  2. USderogatoryidiomaticAn insubstantial person; a weakling.

    That pencil-neck from systems isn't going to tell me what I can't do.

    2 more examples

    Mom said, “Sell it to the circus, what the heck.” / Dad said, “Nope, this one's a pencil neck / And if there's one thing lower than a side show freak / It's a grit eatin', scum suckin', pencil neck geek.”

    1977, Pete Cicero, Martin Margulies, “Pencil Neck Geek”, performed by Freddie Blassie & The Geekettes

    On Thursday, March 28, Trump took the stage in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for a campaign rally, where he unleashed a new schoolyard nickname: “little pencil-neck Adam Schiff.”

    2020, Kevin Sullivan, Mary Jordan, quoting Donald Trump, Trump on Trial, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 217

Origin

From pencil + neck, popularized by wrestler Freddie Blassie.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

pencil-neck. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pencil-neck

MLA

“pencil-neck.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pencil-neck. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pencil-neck,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pencil-neck.

Source: pencil-neck on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.