Dork

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /dɔːɹk/
• UK IPA: /dɔːk/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)k

Origin

US 1960s, from 1967 in sense of “silly person”, presumably from earlier use as bowdlerization of dick ("penis") in student slang, particularly Midwest.

Wordorigins.org|3=Sunday, June 11, 2006

Online Etymology Dictionary

Lawrence Poston, “Some Problems in the Study of Campus Slang,” American Speech 39, no. 2 (May 1964) (JSTOR 453113): p. 118.

Historical Dictionary of American Slang, v. 1, A-G, edited by Jonathan Lighter (New York: Random House, 1994), p. 638.

Full definition of dork

Noun

1. (obsolete, vulgar, slang) A penis. from the 20th c.
2. (pejorative, slang) A quirky, silly and/or stupid, socially inept person, or one who is out of touch with contemporary trends. Often confused with nerd and geek, but does not imply the same level of intelligence. from the 20th c.
• 1967, Don Moser and Jerry Cohen, The Pied Piper of Tucson:I didn’t have any clothes and I had short hair and looked like a dork. Girls wouldn’t go out with me.

Usage notes

Narrowly used to indicate someone inept or out of touch, broadly used to mean simply “silly, foolish”; compare doofus, twit.

Derived terms

• dorkface
• to dorkify
• dorkwad
• dorky

Synonyms