Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun UK, slang, pejorative A fool, prat, twit.
  • noun UK, slang An idiot, in an affectionate sense.
  • noun Cockney rhyming slang, vulgar Cunt.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

The usage is dated to the 1930s. A shortened version of Berkeley Hunt, the hunt based at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire. In the Cockney rhyming slang, hunt is used as a rhyme for cunt giving the word berk its original slang meaning.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Supposedly an abbreviation of rhyming slang "berkshire hunt" = cunt. Obviously much softer in meaning than cunt.

    January 10, 2008

  • (Not-Foreskin v Foreskin -

    Old testament berks

    in daft dressing-gowns

    and peep-toe slippers

    play atavistic

    grenade-lobbing pranks

    in the Holy Land.)

    - Peter Reading, Between the Headlines, from Diplopic, 1983

    June 30, 2008