Pwn
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Pwn is a leetspeak slang term derived from the verb own,[1][2][3] meaning to appropriate or to conquer to gain ownership. The term was created accidentally by the misspelling of "own" in video game design due to the keyboard proximity of "O" and "P." It implies domination or humiliation of a rival,[4] used primarily in the Internet-based video game culture to taunt an opponent who has just been soundly defeated (e.g., "You just got pwned!").[5]
In script kiddie jargon, pwn means to compromise or control, specifically another computer (server or PC), website, gateway device, or application. It is synonymous with one of the definitions of hacking or cracking, including iOS jailbreaking. The Pwnie Awards are awarded by a group of security researchers.[4]
Popularity of the term among teenagers rose in the mid-2000s, with the spread from the Internet written form to use in spoken language.[6]
Pronunciations[edit]
Because pwn is primarily used in written form, it has no single generally accepted pronunciation: renditions include /oʊn/ OHN, /pwoʊn/ PWOHN, /poʊn/ POHN, /pəˈʔoʊn/, /pɔːn/ PAWN, /piˈoʊn/ pee-OHN, /pwiːn/ PWEEN, and /puːn/ POON perhaps from Welsh, and with a double entendre implying sexual domination, but with the Welsh use of the letter "w" after a leading consonant where it's not commonly found in English words. Originally, pwn and its variants were pronounced /oʊn/ in the same way as the verb own, the tail of the p being "silent". A notable usage of this pronunciation can be seen in the Internet distributed series Pure Pwnage (pronounced "pure ownage").[7][8][9][10]
In culture[edit]
- Have I Been Pwned?, a website that reports Internet security breaches
- Pwn2Own, a contest
- Pwnage is the online identity of Samuel Anderson-Anderson, the protagonist in Nathan Hill's novel The Nix (2017)[11]
- Pwnsauce was the online identity of a leading hacktivist member of LulzSec.
In 2015 Scrabble added pwn to their Official Scrabble Words list. [12]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Pichlmair, Martin. Pwned – 10 Tales of Appropriation in Video Games (PDF). Search this book on
- ↑ Computer Slang (PDF). December 9, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 9, 2008. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) Search this book on
- ↑ Ludlow, Peter; Wallace, Mark (2007). The Second Life Herald. MIT Press. p. 53. ISBN 0-262-12294-4. Search this book on
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Naone, Erica (November 2008). "The Flaw at the Heart of the Internet". Technology Review. 111 (6). pp. 62–67.
- ↑ Peckham, Aaron (2007). Mo' Urban Dictionary: Ridonkulous Street Slang Defined. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 230. ISBN 0-7407-6875-1. Search this book on
- ↑ "Teen slang now following Internet shortcuts". CTV News. Canada. February 8, 2007. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
- ↑ The word "pwnage" can be pronounced several different ways. The show's creators pronounce it "ownage". "'Pwn' was originally a typo of 'own', because the 'P' is near the 'O' on the keyboard. The person is still trying to say 'own'."
- ↑ TeamSpeak chat (December 13, 2005)
- ↑ "Encyclopedia: Definition of: pwn". PC Magazine. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
- ↑ Rhoads, Christopher (August 23, 2007). "What did U S@y?". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved November 26, 2009. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Hill, Nathan (2017). The Nix. ISBN 978-1-5098-0783-3. Search this book on
- ↑ "Go Forth And Pwn For Shizzle, Word List Guardians Tell Scrabble Players". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
External links[edit]
The dictionary definition of pwn at Wiktionary
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