What do 'minging' and 'manky' mean?

Question

Like, I've heard these words used everso much (possibly because I was around), but what do they really mean?

Answer 1

Mrsgavanr may be right about "minging". The word she refers to originally came from Romany (gypsy) "minchi", meaning either the female genitalia, or women collectively, when referred to as sexual objects. There is also a Scottish "ming", meaning to look or smell unpleasant. Take your pick!

"Manky" started off as Old French "manc", meaning defective, and then found its way into Scottish as "mank" (now obsolete, but again meaning defective), and finally changed its Scottish (and English dialect) meaning to "filthy, dirty, or rotten"..

Well, there you are - you might not want to explain "minging" to your grandma, whereas "manky" shouldn't cause her to cut you out of her will. It's odd how these rather antique words find their way into the mouths of kids who think they are being terribly up-to-date.

Answer 2

'Minging' seems to be relatively new - that is, within the last five years or so - and also appears to be part of younger people's slang vocabulary; you don't hear it used by anybody over 30, at least. The word indicates strong dislike/disgust. I'm surprised at what I believe to be its etymology because there is a *very* unpleasant and insulting word for the female pudenda which I'd better try spelling as m*nge (to rhyme with fringe) and that's very low-life indeed; i.e. you wouldn't find many people using it even if they were content to call something 'minging.' But I could be wrong about the etymology.

'Manky' has been around much longer, isn't particularly rude; it's the sort of word you might use if someone wanted to borrow your handkerchief in an emergency and you'd already got it a bit messy. It's much more often used about things than about people and indicates (usually) a transitory state - you might for example tell your teenager that they can't possibly wear those socks again without washing because they're 'a bit manky.'

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

Minging Definition

Answer 4

minging means smelly, dirty if you say my undys i've been wearing for 5 days are minging.

If someone says "eewww she's minging" means ugly etc.

Mancy if there's dirt around something or once again un hygenic or if someone picks up a cigarette end off the floor and smoked it for example that would be manky.

Answer 5

Minging started as a description of smell then went on to visuals.
Like that smells minging. Now its a persons looks.

Manky is like a hybrid of maingie wrank an skanky.

Its all negative descriptive an as its slang spell it how yo like foool.

Answer 6

mainly ugly for mingin ( theres no g its slang) and manky as in dirty (i.e. the house is manky or manky dick is always a good one for us girls. (It means someone who sleeps around.) probably the same for you fellas but you wouldn't necessarily use the word dick.
Or maybe you would I'm not a 'homophobe.'

Answer 7

Actually minging and manky are both words for dirty.
Minger is a loose (slaggy) lass.
If you want a better word for dirty try

Reesting (dirty and smelly) or Gopping.
(RAF Slang for dirty)

Answer 8

If a woman is minging it means she is very ugly, if something is manky it is very unclean

Answer 9

A bit like clatty. Dirty, smelly, people who only find the 50p if they looked under the soap. Bet you heard that as well.

Answer 10

In regards to a person, ugly and displeasing to look at

In regards to an object, disgusting, slimy or horrible to look at, maybe even smelly...