tronk

Borrowed from Afrikaans tronk, from Dutch tronk, from Portuguese tronco, from Latin truncus. Doublet of truncus and trunk.

tronk (plural tronks)

1. (South Africa) A prison.
   • 1824, William John Burchell, Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa:

     It must here be explained that the tronk, or jail, is the general receptacle, not only of convicted criminals, but of such Hottentots or slaves as are found, improperly or illegally wandering about the country […]

   • 1958, Isobel Rae, The strange story of Dr James Barry:

     The diary of another settler, who had been wrongfully imprisoned in the Tronk, and described the daily life there in no uncertain terms […]

   • 1985, Lawrence George Green, Maureen Barnes, The best of Lawrence Green:

     It was built, as far as I can discover, because the Cape Argus rightly denounced the overcrowding of the old "tronk" on the waterfront.

From Dutch tronk (“prison, dungeon, stocks”), from Portuguese tronco (“block, prison, dungeon”), from Latin truncus (“trunk”).

• IPA^(key): /trɔŋk/

• Audio

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tronk (plural tronke)

1. prison

• tronkstraf

• → English: tronk
• → Kwanyama: ondolonggo

• IPA^(key): /trɔŋk/
• Hyphenation: tronk
• Rhymes: -ɔŋk

From Middle Dutch tronc (“trunk”), from Old French tronc (“trunk”), from Latin truncus (“trunk”).

tronk m (plural tronken, diminutive tronkje n)

1. (now dialectal) trunk, tree trunk

   Synonyms: boomstam, stam

2. (now dialectal) tree stump

   Synonyms: boomstronk, stronk

Borrowed from Portuguese tronco (“block, prison, trunk”), from Latin truncus (“trunk”).

tronk m (plural tronken)

1. (obsolete, Dutch East Indies, Cape Peninsula) prison, dungeon, stocks

• Afrikaans: tronk
  • → English: tronk
  • → Kwanyama: ondolonggo

Uncertain. Compare Tocharian A trunk.

tronk m

1. cave, hollow