flunky

(fluŋ)

noun pl. flunkies

  1. a liveried manservant: term of contempt
    1. a person who obeys superiors in a servile, cringing way
    2. ☆ a person with very minor or menial tasks

Origin: orig. Scot < ? Fr flanquer, to flank, be at the side of, as to render aid < OFr flanc, flank

Also sp. flunkey

Related Forms:

See flunky in American Heritage Dictionary 4

also flun·key

noun pl. flun·kies also flun·keys
  1. A person of slavish or unquestioning obedience; a lackey.
  2. One who does menial or trivial work; a drudge.
  3. A liveried manservant.

Origin:

Origin: Scots

Origin: , perhaps from flanker, an attendant at one's flank

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Related Forms:

  • flunˈky·ism noun
Word History: The word flunky has come into Standard English from Scots, in which the word meant “liveried manservant, footman,” coming at least by the 19th century to be a term of contempt. The word is first recorded and defined in a work about Scots published in 1782. The definition states that a flunky is “literally a sidesman or attendant at your flank,” which gives support to the suggestion that flunky is a derivative and alteration of flanker, “one who stands at a person's flank.”

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