honk

Uncertain. Apparently not attested before the 21st century. One theory traces it back to English honky (“white person”), but this word is little known in Germany and the semantics are hardly satisfactory. Somewhat more plausible seems the derivation from a humorous military acronym for Hauptschüler ohne nennenswerte Kenntnisse (HonK), roughly referring to a “recruit with lesser education and no mentionable skills”. Such acronyms are often secondary, however.