Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective slang of poor quality, odd
  • adjective jargon, computing, rare Unresponsive (of a software application’s user interface), sluggish.

Etymologies

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The word janky has been adopted in honor of Barry Gerharz.

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Examples

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  • Kind of a cross between junky and skanky.

    July 25, 2007

  • I didn't know that there was a level below skanky.

    July 25, 2007

  • C/o Urban Dictionary:

    1.(adjective) inferior quality; held in low social regard; old and dilapidated; refers almost exclusively to inanimate material objects, not to people

    We tried to pick up on these girls waiting for the bus, but I was driving my sister's janky 1989 geo metro so we just got clowned instead.

    2. Poorly constructed or of poor quality

    This janky shirt she gave me is falling apart.

    3. adjective used to describe a person, place or thing which is questionable, fucked up, wrong, strange, broken down, undesirable, and/or just some thing you can't think of another word for. The origin of this work is explained somewhat in the conversation example. Friends and I were sitting around drinking coffee one morning, and I was bitching about my empty cup when my friend blamed the lack of coffee on the "janky ass coffee maker." I have since heard the word in the movie Friday.

    Other forms: janked, janked up, janked out,

    I was dancing with my friends and some janky old mutherfucker came up to me and started grabbin' my ass!

    Michelle: yo, when's that coffee going to be ready?

    Crystal: I don't know. This janky ass coffee maker takes forever.

    He was a weirdo and made me feel all janked out, so I left.

    I didn't get into Harvard. I don't know what I'm going to do now - it's totally janked up.

    May 28, 2008

  • janky is something broke-down, half-busted, cobbled-together, and counterintuitive yet functional.

    "That car with the hefty bag taped on as a window is janky."

    April 1, 2009