pwn

Abbreviation of English Paiwan, from Chinese 排灣 / 排湾 (Páiwān).

pwn

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Paiwan.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Paiwan terms

From own, possibly born out of a typographical error (the adjacency of o and p on qwerty keyboards).

Originally pronounced /əʊn/ (UK) / /oʊn/ (US), like own.(US).^[1][2] Superseded by:

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pəʊn/, /pɔːn/, (rarely) /piˈəʊn/^[3][4]
• (US) IPA^(key): /poʊn/, /piˈoʊn/, /pɔn/, (rarely) /piˈɔn/^[3][4]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːn, -əʊn, -ɔn, -oʊn

pwn (third-person singular simple present pwns, present participle pwning, simple past and past participle pwned or pwnd or pwnt)

1. (Internet slang, online gaming, originally leetspeak, ambitransitive) To own, to defeat or dominate (someone or something, especially a game or someone playing a game).

   Synonyms: own, pwnz0r

   I pwned them in game!

   • 1999 August 5, Quaestor, “Re: [SP] So..the first victim of the Evil/Hero System”, in rec.games.computer.ultima.online‎^[1] (Usenet), retrieved 23 September 2016, message-ID <37AA8154.D77E6EB8@Skara.Brae>:

     2nd guard: "Yeah, shiiit! I PWNED YO @zz!"

   • 2001, Edward Glamkowski, alt.games.diablo2‎^[2] (Usenet):

     Otherwise I use fury as my normal attack. Fury completely pwns!

   • 2003, James Grahame, alt.games.everquest‎^[3] (Usenet):

     When you get to the Temple of Marr, look very closely at the vases at zone-in and see if you can find the picture where Mith Marr "pwns" someone.

   • 2004, Bronney Hui, alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia‎^[4] (Usenet):

     My Trident pwns the Cirrus Logics!

   • 2005, AlphaDream, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Nintendo:

     NOOBZ STILL R NOT PWNED. CONTINUE PWNERSHIP UNTIL ALL NOOBZ R PWNED.

   • 2025 August 7, Zach Vasquez, “From puppy murder to racist podcasts: South Park’s anti-deportation episode is utterly ruthless TV”, in The Guardian‎^[5], →ISSN:

     The episode follows two different stories: in one, the show’s resident bigot, Eric Cartman, is outraged to learn that fellow fourth grader Clyde has risen to prominence as a white nationalist podcaster who makes offensive claims about women, Jewish people, Black people and other minority groups to goad them into debating him in exploitative viral videos (“WOKE STUDENT TOTALLY PWNED”).

pwn (countable and uncountable, plural pwns)

1. (Internet slang, originally leetspeak) Triumph, victory. Often exclaimed after an opponent in a video game is defeated.
2. (Internet slang, computer security, originally leetspeak) An exploit in computer security, especially relating to machine code.

• PNW, wpn.

Inherited from Middle Welsh pwnn, from Vulgar Latin *pundus, from Latin pondus (“weight”).

• IPA^(key): /pʊn/
• Rhymes: -ʊn

pwn m (plural pynnau)

1. load, burden

   Synonyms: llwyth, baich

• pynfarch (“packhorse”)
• trwybwn (“throughput”)

• D. G. Lewis, N. Lewis, editors (2005–present), “pwn”, in Gweiadur: the Welsh–English Dictionary, Gwerin
• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “pwn”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies