Pwn

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"PWN" redirects here. For other uses, see PWN (disambiguation).
File:Pwned counterstrike.png
A player is "pwned" in a game of Counter-Strike. That player is not visible due to being moved elsewhere after losing.

The verb pwn (past tense: pwned, pwnd, pwn'd, pwnt) as used by the Internet gaming subculture, means to beat or dominate an opponent (pwned can mean "to be made a fool of"). While it probably originated as a typographical error of the word own, it is now used intentionally by many members of the subculture. The term has become so ubiquitous in Internet circles that it is often used outside of gaming contexts – for example, "He just got pwned in that debate", "The hunters pwnt that bear", "Liverpool opened a can of ultimate pwnage", or "Emile Morales got pwned."

Etymology

Theories of origination

  • A widely accepted origin of the term traces back to the misspelling of the phrase "owned" by a top (or highly skilled) player of the game Quake. The term quickly spread to less significant players; eventually expanding to virtually the entire population of online gamers.
  • One explanation is that the word's development mirrors the development of names given to popular programming languages. The 'C Programming Language' was given its name as the next letter after an even earlier 'B'. 'C++' was the name given to the next iterative revision of C, an inside programming joke whereby '++' increases the referent (in this case C) by a value of 1. By the same logic [with the letter 'p' acting as a '++'], the word pwn represents own incremented by a value of 1.
  • Another explanation is that a map created for Warcraft had a message that popped up saying something to do with owned, however the map creater had mispelled it pwned and it spread from there.
  • Another is an abbreviation of the word pawn meaning to dominate harshly. Pawn is also the weakest piece in chess, therefore referring to the person being weak, as they may have just been beaten.
  • Another is that in Counter-Strike it meant pistol-owned, and someone misinterpreted it and spread it as meaning the same thing as "owned".

Pronunciation

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

There is no uniform or official way to pronounce pwn as it is most often encountered in text. pronunciations used by people include (AmE means American English; BrE means British English):

  • AmE /oʊn/, BrE /əʊn/ (same as "own", ignoring the typo)
  • /puːn/ rhymes with soon (this is the only actual pronouncable possibility based on the spelling, coming from the Welsh pronunciation of "w", but it also has a sexual connotation)
  • AmE /pɔn/, BrE /pɔːn/ (as a "pawn" in chess)
  • AmE /poʊn/, BrE /pəʊn/ (rhymes with "own")
  • /pʊn/ (with u as in "put")
  • /pɑʊn/ (rhymes with "town")
  • /pwɪn/ (as "pwin")
  • /pjuːn/ (similar to /puːn/, but with an initial "y" sound)

It is sometimes pronounced with two syllables, for example:

  • /piːˈwɪn/ (as "pea win")
  • /piːˈoʊn/ (as "pea own")

Notable derivative words

  • Pwned (Pwnd, Pwn3d, Powned, Pwnt, Pwn'D) - An alternate of the past tense or past participle of the verb. An example usage would be "You were pwned."
  • Pwnded - Past perfect tense of pwnd ("have been pwned").
  • J-Pwned - Adding "J-" to anything for emphasis, from the term J-Pop for popular Japanese music.
  • Pwnage (Pwnij, Pwn1g3, Pwn4g3, also: Pwnation) - The act or process of being pwned.
  • Pwnzer (Pwnz3r, Pwnzr, Pwnzor, Pwnz0r and 0wnz0red) - Variant of pwn based on the slang suffix "zor" or "x0r" from hax0r.
  • Pizowned (Pizzowned, Owndizzled) - Based on izzle-speak. Also a throwback to the P'zone Pizza at Pizza Hut
  • Roflpwnt - Combining ROFL (Rolling On the Floor, Laughing) and "pwnt".
  • WTFpwned!? - Derived from the contraction of the Internet slang term WTF ("What the f***?") and pwn and is intended to suggest that a player was not just pwned, but that such pwnage happened so quickly that the other player was left wondering what happened (and saying "What the f***?").
  • Qwned - Pronounced "quon" is a lesser-known derivative of owned and pwned; as p follows o, q alphabetically follows p. It is intended to be somewhat satirical of pwned as it would be a very unlikely typo. When typed in lowercase, the "q" in qwned resembles a mirror-reversed lowercase "p". Also, q is on the opposite side of a QWERTY keyboard from the letter p.
  • Rwned - Pronounced "rown", is also a lesser-known derivative of owned and pwned, and like qwned is intended as a satire of pwned.
  • Bwned - Pronounced "bone" and has two meanings, the first being another level of being pwned (similar to "pwnage"); the second being a vulgar term for sexual intercourse.
  • p00nt - Pronounced "poont", another lesser-known derivative of pwned, playing around with the pronunciation of the word pwned.
  • Al Ca Pwned - one of the funnier variations of pwned
  • Post-pwned - to be pwned many many times over

Bibliography

Stephens, Alex [2004] 2005 Skirmisher Monthly. Edited by David Bilica. New York: Havoc Publications.

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