unc

See also: UNC

English

Alternative forms

• unk

Etymology 1

Clipping of uncle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌŋk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋk

Noun

unc (plural uncs)

1. (colloquial) Clipping of uncle.
   • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things:

     Then Pangborn would find him and ask him what he thought he was doing here. He would ask if Ace had a job. He didn't, and he couldn't even claim he had come back to visit his unc, because Pop had been in his junkshop when the place burned down.

   • 2024 March 11, Kyle Swenson, Amber Ferguson, “A TikToker raised $400K for an unhoused man. Then things got messy.”, in The Washington Post‎^[1]:

     Yo, TikTok, we need to raise money for Unc.

Synonyms

• unkie
• unky

References

• “Unk”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Etymology 2

Clipping of uncoordinated.

Noun

unc (plural uncs)

1. (genomics) A phenotype of Caenorhabditis elegans that moves in an uncoordinated manner.
   • 1979, David Hirsh et al., Eucaryotic gene regulation‎^[2]:

     The Bristol chromosome I was marked with mutations in two widely spaced genes, dpy-5 (e61 ) and unc-54 (el 90). A strain homozygous for these markers is dumpy and uncoordinated.

   • 1999, Aloi, Jane Elizabeth, Student study guide to accompany general zoology‎^[3]:

     The most intriging mutated gene is called an "unc" gene for uncoordinated. In this mutant, the modified gene is expressed as an alteration of the muscle tissue. The worm does not move in the typical nematode fashion. Insights concerning the modified mechanism in these "unc" worms may provide insight into such diseases as muscular dystrophy.

   • 2006, Caldwell, Guy A, Integrated genomics : a discovery-based laboratory course‎^[4], page 207:

     Unc animals do not move in the normal sinusoidal pattern of wildtype animals.

   • 2017, Meneely, Philip Mark, author, Genetics : genes, genomes, and evolution‎^[5]:

     Mutations in the lon-2 gene result in worms that are unusually long (Lon), while mutations in the unc-78 gene result in worms that are uncoordinated (Unc).

Anagrams

• NUC, cun, nuc

Middle English

Pronoun

unc

1. Alternative form of unk

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /unk/, [uŋk]

Pronoun

unc

1. accusative/dative of wit: (to) us two
   • "The Wife's Lament"

     Ongunnon þæt þæs mannes māgas hyċġan þurh dierne ġeþōht þæt hīe tōdǣlden unc.

     The person's relatives began to think of a secret plan to separate us.

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *unkwiz, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éngʷʰis (“snake”).

Noun

unc m

1. snake
2. toad

Descendants

• German: Unke