Etymology

There is no evidence "crunk" comes from the Yiddish and German words meaning "sick" or "ill" ("krank" in both languages), despite the phonetic similarity of the words (see this LanguageLog post for information on the high probability of chance similarity among languages). Nor is there any evidence it was brought into the Southern Black vernacular through the presence of European Jewish immigrant shopkeepers in black neighborhoods in cities such as Atlanta. More likely, and more often claimed, is that it is a combination of "crazy" and "drunk" or that it indicates a state in which the user is simultaneously drunk and high on marijuana. Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz were early popularizers of the term in the 2000s. See the etymology section of the Wikipedia article for more information.

Adjective

1. crazy and drunk; according to the Double-Tongued Word Wrester dictionary, good, phat, fine
2. simultaneously intoxicated by marijuana and alcohol
   • She is so fucking crunk right now.
3. of an absurd amount
   • I have a crunk ton of homework tonight.

Quotations

• 2002, Ashanti, Foolish/Unfoolish http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN1401300308&id=S118tQIJlk0C&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&sig=zFEu5k2g2F2iOTw6Pq6uFFjJJw0

  Let me tell you how I like it / If we’re all in a crowd / I like to be the one they single out / Let me tell you how to please me / Can you get it crunk and make my body jump?

• 2003, Todd Boyd, The New H.N.I.C. http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0814798950&id=DgZ7YgzOJLUC&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&sig=vd-YPaf83WWKyHA6Qf6anoaj7zc

  Using their trademark southern dialect, the group tell others to “huss that fuss,” shut up and move, for they, Outkast, are the type of people who “make the club get crunk,” in other words, make you get up and jam, with “crunk” here functioning as a sort of past perfect sense of the word “crank.”

• 2005, Tamara Palmer, Country Fried Soul http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0879308575&id=t-sT4VyjTKUC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&sig=UeD7CSeKUITrrT1oAfvUhOI627w

  I just saw how much of an influence Tupac had on Master P and No Limit, how much of an influence Tupac had on the whole city of Atlanta, Georgia, and on Houston, Texas, and just how much influence on influence on that whole ‘Bankhead [Bounce]’ and getting crunk certain songs of Makaveli had on that shit.

Quotations

• 2004, Crunk Classics [title] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00029RT1M/
• 2005, Michael Joseph Corcoran, All Over the Map http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0292709765&id=y5iPO9n4qtQC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&sig=Y6mP0dWw0IOpEwelSg4eXS2RkbM

  As Houston rap became a national sensation, spinning off into the “crunk” scene, it was hard to believe that just ten years earlier, the only Texas rap acts of any note were Donald “The D.O.C.” Curry, the Dallasite who hooked up with Dr. Dre and the N.W.A. crew, and the Geto Boys, who set out to make West Coast gangstas come off like Young MC.

• 2005, Tamara Palmer, Country Fried Soul http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN0879308575&id=t-sT4VyjTKUC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&sig=McTHEGgDgR6c2fFj-7mR-buBdaM

  On Slanguistics, a special on the MTV2 cable network, Andre 3000 offerred a succinct analogy for crunk. “What punk was to rock,” he explains, “crunk is to rap.”

• 2005, David Katz, Things a Man Should Never Do Past 30 http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&vid=ISBN1588164691&id=vY51QY7nhEQC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&sig=5CLasz94Yluq_TIXNXloM-tgM2I

  Use a “crunk” song for his cell-phone ring.

• 1997, Stephen King, "The Wizard and the Glass"

  "...talking that stupid crunk of theirs." There was no proper word for the dialect of the Mejic Vaqueros, but "crunk" served well enough among the Barony's higher-born citizens.