nork

See also: Nork and nõrk

English

Etymology

Unknown, originally used in Australia, attested since the 1960s. One theory suggests that the source is Norco Co-operative, a butter manufacturer that featured a cow's udder on package labels,[1] but this is considered dubious.[2]

Pronunciation

Noun

nork (plural norks)

  1. (slang, chiefly in plural) A woman's breast.
    • 1983, Robert Drewe, The Bodysurfers, Penguin 2009, p. 91:
      I lay there so close I could've reached out in any direction and just grabbed a nork.
    • 1999, Louis Nowra, The twelfth of never:
      Ernie constantly badgered me to get her to talk to him but I suspected she would throttle him if he merely glanced in the direction of her norks.
    • 2002, Kate Atkinson, Not the end of the world:
      And her norks! Like a hundred times bigger than his sister's. Why was he thinking about his sister's norks? Gross.

References
  1. Jonathon Green (2016), “norks, n.”, in Green's Dictionary of Slang‎
  2. “nork” in Eric Partridge; Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, 2015, →ISBN.

Anagrams

Basque

Etymology

nor (“who”) +‎ -(e)k (ergative suffix)

Pronoun

nork

  1. (interrogative) ergative singular of nor

Usage notes

Both nor and nork are translated as "who", but nork refers to the subject of a transitive verb.

Nork ikusi du? ― Who saw her?

To ask about the object of a transitive verb or the subject of an intransitive verb, nor is used.

Nor ikusi du? ― Who did she see.
Nor etortzen da? ― Who's coming?
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