pimp

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɪmp/
• Rhymes: -ɪmp

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Origin unknown. Perhaps from French pimpant (“smart, sparkish”) or German Pimpf (“boy, youth, young squirt”). The Old English near-synonym was rendered by Old English forspennend (literally “solicitor”).

Noun

pimp (plural pimps)

1. Someone who solicits customers for prostitution and acts as manager for a group of prostitutes; a pander.
   • 2006, Lily Allen, Iyiola Babalola, Darren Lewis, Tommy McCook, “LDN”, in Alright, Still, performed by Lily Allen:

     A fella looking dapper / And he's sittin' with a slapper / Then I see it's a pimp / And his crack whore

   • 2018, Brendon Urie, Michael Angelakos, Sam Hollander, Morgan Kibby, Jake Sinclair, Dillon Francis, “Hey Look Ma, I Made It”, in Pray for the Wicked‎, performed by Panic! at the Disco:

     All my life, been hustling / And tonight is my appraisal / 'Cause I'm a hooker selling songs / And my pimp's a record label

2. (African-American Vernacular, slang) A man who can easily attract women.

Derived terms

• gorilla pimp
• pimp cup
• pimpdom
• pimp hand
• pimphood
• pimpmobile
• pimpness
• pimpship
• pimp slap, pimp-slap
• pimp steak
• pimp stick
• Romeo pimp
• sugar pimp

Translations

prostitution solicitor

Afrikaans: pooier, hoerboer Albanian: tutor prostitutash m Arabic: قَوَّاد m (qawwād) Egyptian Arabic: عرص m (ʕarṣ), معرص m (míʕarraṣ) South Levantine Arabic: عرص m (ʕarṣ), قَوَّاد m (gawwād) Armenian: կավատ (hy) (kavat) Azerbaijani: oğraş (az) Belarusian: сутэнёр m (sutenjór), зво́днік m (zvódnik), зво́дніца f (zvódnica) Bengali: কোটনা (bn) (kōṭona) Bikol Central: bugaw Bulgarian: сво́дник (bg) m (svódnik), сво́дница f (svódnica), сутеньо́р m (sutenjór) Burmese: ဖါခေါင်း (hpahkaung:) Catalan: proxeneta (ca), alcavot (ca) m Chinese: Cantonese: 姑爺仔 / 姑爷仔 (gu1 je4 zai2), 龜公 / 龟公 (gwai1 gung1) Hokkien: 三七仔 (zh-min-nan) (sam-chhit-á), 牽猴的 / 牵猴的 (khan-kâu-ê), 牽猴仔 / 牵猴仔 (khan-kâu-á) Mandarin: 皮條客 / 皮条客 (zh) (pítiáokè), 老鴇 / 老鸨 (zh) (lǎobǎo) (female), 媽媽桑 / 妈妈桑 (zh) (māmāsāng) (female, Taiwan) Czech: pasák (cs) m, kuplíř (cs) m Danish: alfons (da) Dutch: pooier (nl) Esperanto: prostituisto Estonian: kupeldaja, sutenöör Finnish: sutenööri (fi), parittaja (fi) French: souteneur (fr), maquereau (fr) m, mac (fr) m, proxénète (fr) Galician: bagaxeiro m, alcaiote (gl) m, alcaiota f, proxeneta (gl) m or f Georgian: მამაშა (mamaša) German: Zuhälter (de) m, Lude (de) m, Kuppler (de) m Greek: προαγωγός (el) m or f (proagogós), μαστροπός (el) m or f (mastropós), σωματέμπορος (el) m or f (somatémporos), νταβατζής (el) m (ntavatzís) Ancient: μαστροπός m or f (mastropós), μάτρυλλος m (mátrullos) Hebrew: סַרְסוּר (he) m (sarsúr) Hindi: दलाल (hi) m (dalāl), कुटनी (hi) f (kuṭnī) (female) Hungarian: strici (hu), kerítő (hu), futtató (hu), lányfuttató Icelandic: melludólgur m, hórumangari m Indonesian: germo (id), mucikari (id) Irish: máistir striapach m Italian: magnaccia (it) m, pappone (it) m, protettore (it) m, ruffiano (it) m, lenone (it) m, prosseneta (it) m, paraninfo (it) m Japanese: 女衒 (ぜげん, zegen), ポン引き (ポンびき, ponbiki) Kazakh: жеңгетай (jeñgetai) Khmer: មេអណ្ដើក (km) (mei ʼɑndaək) Korean: 뚜쟁이 (ko) (ttujaeng'i), 뚜 (ko) (ttu), 기둥서방 (ko) (gidungseobang), 포주(抱主) (ko) (poju) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: gewad (ku) m, pêzeweng (ku) m, teres (ku) m Ladino: rufyano m, rufyana f Lao: ຊາຍານຸຊີບ (s nu sīp), ແມງດາ (mǣng dā) ("water cockroach") Latin: lēnō m, lena f Latvian: suteners m Lithuanian: suteneris m, sąvadautojas m Macedonian: сводник m (svodnik), подведувач m (podveduvač), макро m (makro) Malay: alku, barua, jaruman, ketolol, muncikari, pinang muda Malayalam: please add this translation if you can Mongolian: Cyrillic: зууч (mn) (zuuč) Nepali: please add this translation if you can Norman: maquereau m Norwegian: Bokmål: hallik m Old English: forspennend m Ottoman Turkish: پزونك (päzäväng) Pashto: بغری m (bağaray) Persian: Iranian Persian: قَوَّاد (ġavvâd), جاکِش (jâkeš), جابیز (jâbiz), کُس‌کِش (kos-keš) (vulgar) Polish: alfons (pl) m, sutener (pl) m Portuguese: cafetão (pt) m (Brazil), proxeneta (pt) m, safado (pt) m, chulo (pt) m, alcoviteiro (pt) m Punjabi: ਦੱਲਾ m (dallā) Romani: please add this translation if you can Romanian: proxenet (ro) m, pește (ro) m Russian: сутенёр (ru) m (sutenjór), сво́дник (ru) m (svódnik), сво́дница (ru) f (svódnica), сво́дня (ru) f (svódnja), кот (ru) (kot, literally “tomcat”) (slang) Scottish Gaelic: drùisear m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: сводник m, пословодник m Roman: svodnik (sh) m, poslovodnik m Slovak: pasák m, kupliar m Slovene: zvodník (sl) m Spanish: chulo (es) m, proxeneta (es), rufián (es) m, cafiche (es) m, cabrón (es) m, padrote m, alcahuete (es) m, lenón m, ficho (es) m (Peru), cafishio (es) m (South America), cafisho (es) m (South America) Swahili: buzi Swedish: hallick (sv) c, sutenör (sv) c Tagalog: bugaw, kuwekong, alkahuwete, tita-tita Tajik: қаввод (qavvod) Tamil: காமத்தரகன் (ta) m (kāmattarakaṉ), கூட்டிக் கொடுப்பவன் m (kūṭṭik koṭuppavaṉ), மாமா (ta) (māmā) (colloquial, vulgar) Telugu: తార్పుడుగాడు (tārpuḍugāḍu), (Telangana, vulgar) బాడ్కావ్ (bāḍkāv) Thai: แมงดา (mɛɛng-daa) Turkish: pezevenk (tr), kavat (tr), deyyus (tr), kurumsak (tr) Ukrainian: сутене́р m (sutenér), зві́дник m (zvídnyk), зві́дниця f (zvídnycja) Urdu: دَلال m (dalāl), کُٹْنی f (kuṭnī) (female) Uzbek: dayus (uz), sutenyor, dalla (uz), qoʻshmachi (uz) Vietnamese: kẻ mối lái, ma cô (vi) Volapük: (♂♀) lupärodan, (♂) hilupärodan, (♀) jilupärodan Welsh: pimp m, puteinfeistr m (literary) Yiddish: קאַדעט m (kadet) (slang)

Verb

pimp (third-person singular simple present pimps, present participle pimping, simple past and past participle pimped)

1. (intransitive) To act as a procurer of prostitutes; to pander.
2. (transitive) To prostitute someone.

   The smooth-talking, tall man with heavy gold bracelets claimed he could pimp anyone.

3. (transitive, African-American Vernacular, slang) To excessively customize something, especially a vehicle.

   Synonyms: pimp out, pimp up; mack out

   Coordinate terms: level up, max out, spec out, spec up, trick out

   You pimped out that motorcycle f'real, dawg.

4. (transitive, medicine, slang) To ask progressively harder and ultimately unanswerable questions of a resident or medical student (said of a senior member of the medical staff).
   • 2004, Robert A. Blume, Arthur W. Combs, The Continuing American Revolution: A Psychological Perspective, page 183:

     Only an attending physician can pimp a chief resident; the chief resident and attending can pimp a junior resident; they all three can pimp an intern.

5. (transitive, US, slang) To promote, to tout.

   I gotta show you this sweet website where you can pimp your blog and get more readers.

   • 1990 February 4, Leonard Tirado, “Privatized 'Recovery' Versus Collective Action”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 19:

     The trendy rehabs being pimped by the addiction industry's glossy PR.

6. (US, slang) To persuade, smooth talk or trick another into doing something for your benefit.

   I pimped her out of $2,000 and she paid for the entire stay at the Bahamas.

Synonyms

• (prostitute someone): hustle, whore out; see also Thesaurus:pimp out
• (promote, tout): pitch, promote, tout, spruik

Derived terms

• gorilla pimp
• pimp off
• pimp out
• pimp up

Translations

to act as procurer of prostitutes

Arabic: قَادَ (qāda), قَوَّدَ (qawwada) Bulgarian: своднича (svodniča) Chinese: Mandarin: 拉皮條 / 拉皮条 (zh) (lā pítiáo), 拉客 (zh) (lākè) Finnish: parittaa (fi), toimia sutenöörinä French: prostituer (fr), maquereller (fr), maquereauter (fr) Greek: εκπορνεύω (el) (ekpornévo), μαστροπεύω (el) (mastropévo) Hungarian: kerít (hu), kerítőként/striciként ténykedik/működik/tevékenykedik Italian: procacciare (it) Persian: کس‌کشی کردن (kos-keši kardan), جاکشی کردن (jâkeši kardan) Portuguese: cafetinar, alcovitar (pt) Russian: сво́дничать (ru) impf (svódničatʹ) Spanish: putear (es), proxenentizar, encafichar Tamil: கூட்டிக் கொடு (kūṭṭik koṭu) (colloquial) Turkish: pezevenklik yapmak

to prostitute someone

Finnish: tehdä jostakusta prostituoitu French: prostituer (fr) German: prostituieren (de) Greek: εκπορνεύω (el) (ekpornévo) Italian: prostituire Portuguese: prostituir (pt) Spanish: cafishear (Argentina), cafishiar (South America) Tamil: கூட்டிக் கொடு (kūṭṭik koṭu) (colloquial), மாமா வேலை பார் (māmā vēlai pār) (colloquial, vulgar)

to excessively customize

Finnish: tuunata (fi), pimpata Italian: risistemare Spanish: tunear (es)

medicine:to ask progressively harder and ultimately unanswerable questions of a resident or medical student

Finnish: tentata (fi), kuulustella (fi)

to promote, tout

Finnish: puffata

to persuade or trick another into doing something for your benefit

Finnish: taivutella (fi) Tamil: ஏமாற்று (ēmāṟṟu)

Adjective

pimp

1. (slang) Excellent, fashionable, stylish.

See also

• pimping (adjective)
• player
• playa
• madam

Further reading

• Double-Tongued Dictionary definition

Etymology 2

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Yan Tan Tethera

Wikipedia

From Brythonic numerals, from Proto-Brythonic *pɨmp.

Cognate with Welsh pump, Cornish pymp, Breton pemp. Doublet of cinque, fin (“five currency units”), finnuf, five, ponzu, punch (“beverage”), and sengi (“currency”); related to Pompeii.

Numeral

pimp

2. (Cumbria and Old Welsh) Five in Cumbrian and Welsh sheep counting.

See also

• (Borrowdale sheep counting) yan, tyan, tethera, methera, pimp, sethera, lethera, hovera, dovera, dick, yan-a-dick, tyan-a-dick, tethera-a-dick, methera-a-dick, bumfit, yan-a-bumfit, tyan-a-bumfit, tethera-a-bumfit, methera-bumfit, giggot

References

• Wright, Peter (1995), Cumbrian Chat, Dalesman Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 7
• Deakin, Michael A.B. (2007), Leigh-Lancaster, David, editor, The Name of the Number‎, Australian Council for Educational Research, →ISBN, retrieved 17 May 2008, page 75
• Varvogli, Aliki (2002), Annie Proulx's The Shipping News: A Reader's Guide‎, Continuum International Publishing Group, →ISBN, retrieved 17 May 2008, pages 24-25

Anagrams

• impp.