Pwn
Encyclopedia
- "Powned" redirects here. For the Dutch public broadcaster see PowNedPowNedPowNed is a Dutch broadcaster, which broadcasts radio and television programmes on the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system. They air a daily satirical news show during the workweek called PowNews on Nederland 3, which often exposes scandals, especially in politics.The broadcaster is affiliated...
.
Pwn is a leetspeak slang term derived from the verb own
Owned
Owned is a slang word that originated among 1990s hackers, where it referred to "rooting" or gaining administrative control over someone else's computer....
, as meaning to appropriate or to conquer to gain ownership. The term implies domination or humiliation of a rival, used primarily in the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
-based video game culture to taunt an opponent who has just been soundly defeated (e.g., "You just got pwned!").
In hacker
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
jargon, pwn means to compromise or control, specifically another computer (server
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
or PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
), web site, gateway device, or application. It is synonymous with one of the definitions of hacking
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
or cracking. The Pwnie Awards
Pwnie award
The Pwnie Awards recognize both extreme excellence and incompetence in the field of information security. Winners are selected by a committee of security industry luminaries from nominations collected from the information security community...
are awarded by a group of security researchers.
Popularity of the term among teenagers rose in the mid-2000s, with the spread from the Internet written form to use in spoken language.
Etymology
The word pwn most likely came about as a common typoCommonly misspelled words
The term "commonly misspelled words" refers to the practice of often misspelling some common words, in general writing.A selected list of common words is presented below, under: Documented list of common misspellings....
of the word "own" because the "p" and "o" keys are adjacent on a standard English keyboard
QWERTY
QWERTY is the most common modern-day keyboard layout. The name comes from the first six letters appearing in the topleft letter row of the keyboard, read left to right: Q-W-E-R-T-Y. The QWERTY design is based on a layout created for the Sholes and Glidden typewriter and sold to Remington in the...
. A long debate on Urban Dictionary, however, suggests many derivations including "pawned" (a chess term for when a player is put in check by a pawn) and "permanently owned," an escalation of the term "owned."
Pronunciations
Because pwn is primarily used in written form, it has no single generally accepted pronunciationPronunciation
Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
: renditions include
ˈoʊn ,
ˈpoʊn ,
pəʔˈoʊn ,
ˈpɔːn ,
piːˈoʊn , and
ˈpwiːn .
Originally, pwn and its variants were pronounced ˈoʊn) in the same way as the verb own, the tail of the p being "silent". A notable usage of this pronunciation can be seen in the Internet distributed series Pure Pwnage
Pure Pwnage
Pure Pwnage was an Internet-distributed, mockumentary series from ROFLMAO Productions. The fictional series purports to chronicle the life and adventures of Jeremy , a Canadian and self-proclaimed "pro gamer"...
.
Where speakers vocalize the p, pronunciations include pwen, "pwin", pawn, "pone", pun and pwone.
See also
- GosuGosuGosus is a Korean term used to refer to a highly skilled person. In computer gaming the term is usually used to refer to a person highly skilled in multiplayer games like StarCraft, Warcraft III , Diablo II , Counter-Strike and others...
- Hacker (computer security)Hacker (computer security)In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
- Internet slangInternet slangInternet slang is a type of slang that Internet users have popularized, and in many cases, have coined. Such terms often originate with the purpose of saving keystrokes. Many people use the same abbreviations in texting and instant messaging, and social networking websites...
- Lulz
- OwnedOwnedOwned is a slang word that originated among 1990s hackers, where it referred to "rooting" or gaining administrative control over someone else's computer....
- PowNedPowNedPowNed is a Dutch broadcaster, which broadcasts radio and television programmes on the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system. They air a daily satirical news show during the workweek called PowNews on Nederland 3, which often exposes scandals, especially in politics.The broadcaster is affiliated...
- TehTehTeh is an Internet slang neologism most frequently used as an English article, based on a common typographical error of "the". Teh has subsequently developed grammatical usages distinct from the...
- UberÜberÜber comes from the German language. It has one umlaut. It is a cognate of both Latin super and Greek ὑπέρ...