hank panky

9.4

Secret sexual activity that is playful and not allowed

noun
/ˈhæŋk ˈpæŋki/

NSFW

: marrullerías

She warned her teenage son not to get involved in any hank panky at the party.

Examples

There were rumors that some hank panky was going on in the office late at night.
The hotel manager assured guests there would be no hank panky allowed on the premises.
There was some hank panky going on at the party.
Did you hear about the hank panky at the club last night?
She warned her teenage son not to get involved in any hank panky at the party.
The hotel manager assured guests there would be no hank panky allowed on the premises.
There were rumors that some hank panky was going on in the office late at night.

Synonyms

panky

vshank panky

NSFW

12 9.9

Secret sexual activity that people hide and many find improper

is the same meaning but is the longer two word colloquial form

nooky

vshank panky

Offensive

2 9.9

Sex between people

focuses on secretive improper playful activity rather than neutral intercourse

How Sexual

sexual intercourse

NSFW

31 3.2

hank panky

NSFW

9.4

to make out

NSFW

130 8.1

flirting

43 3.5

Surface Forms

hank panky singular

hank pankies plural

Morphology

hank + panky

The phrase is a colloquial rhyming idiom (hanky-panky) whose sense 'illicit or playful sexual activity' is not compositionally derived from its parts: 'hank' is not a recognizable lexical item and 'panky' alone does not transparently mean sexual activity. As a slangy, idiomatic reduplication rather than a predictable compound, a B1 learner knowing the constituent words would not reliably infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Hank panky may come from the image of a small trick, where a performer used a hanky, a handkerchief, to hide or distract people and the rhyming word panky made it sound playful. Because the picture is of a secret, playful trick, hank panky came to mean 'secret' or 'improper sexual activity'.