Basic Details
Word: Trunk
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: The thick main stem of a tree; an elephant's long nose; a large strong box for carrying or storing things; also the main part of the human body.
Synonyms: chest, stem, torso
How to Spell Trunk
Syllables: trunk
Tricky part: It ends in nk, as in bank and drink. Students sometimes add a c (trunck), copying the ck in truck.
Watch out for: trunck, trunc, trunkk
Memory tip: Truck has ck, trunk has nk: change the c to an n and the truck becomes a trunk.
Usage Examples
Example 1: Grandmother keeps her wedding saris in a tin trunk under the bed.
Example 2: The elephant curled its trunk around a bundle of sugar cane.
Example 3: An old banyan's trunk can be wide enough to hide a small car.
Fun Fact
An elephant's trunk has no bone at all. It is a mass of muscles that can pick up a single peanut or tear down a branch.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
One word in this sentence is misspelt. Find it:
Before the new hostel term began, Rohan packed his trunck with sheets, books and a torch, and his father tied it to the roof of the jeep.
a) hostel
b) jeep
c) trunck
d) torch
Show answer
c) trunck. Truck takes ck, but here the n already gives the ending nk, and no c is needed.
Word Connection
Choose the word closest in meaning to trunk as used in the sentence:
The old tin trunk in the attic was full of letters from the 1960s.
a) rack
b) basket
c) chest
d) shelf
Show answer
c) chest. A trunk is a large box with a lid, which is a chest; shelves and racks are open.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters in the sentence:
The woodcutter sat on a fallen nurkt to eat his lunch.
a) trunk
b) truck
c) turn
d) trick
Show answer
a) trunk. The letters include both an n and a k, so truck and trick are out, and turn is one letter short.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. In British English the luggage space at the back of a car is the ____, while Americans call it the trunk.
a) dashboard
b) bonnet
c) boot
d) bumper
Show answer
c) boot
2. In older Indian and British English, a trunk call was ____.
a) a long-distance telephone call
b) a call to collect luggage
c) a call made from a tree
d) a shout to an elephant
Show answer
a) a long-distance telephone call
