Pwn () is a leetspeak slang term, derived from the word "own",^[1][2][3] that implies domination or humiliation of a rival, used primarily in the Internet gaming culture to taunt an opponent who has just been soundly defeated (e.g. "You just got pwned!"). Past tense may also be spelled pwnd, pwn3d, pwnt (pronounced with a t sound), or powned (with the standard d sound).

One other meaning can be 'perfect ownage'. To do this, you could be playing a fighting game, where your character defeats an opponent without receiving any damage (i.e. leaving him/her unscathed).

In hacker jargon, to "pwn" means "to compromise" or "to control," specifically another computer (server or PC), web site, gateway device, or application. It is synonymous with one of the definitions of hacking or cracking. An outside party who has "owned" or "pwned" a system has obtained unauthorized administrative control of the system.

Etymology

The word "pwn" may have arisen and spread as a common typo of the word "own," since the 'p' and 'o' keys are adjacent on a standard English keyboard.^[4][5]

Pronunciation

Because the word "pwn" has developed recently, and is primarily used in written form only, it has no single accepted pronunciation. Common pronunciations include "pone", "own", "pawn" and "poon" (compare cwm); "pwen" is also considered an acceptable pronunciation,^[6] though the first and second pronunciations are generally considered the most correct.

Electronic Gaming Monthly editor SeanBaby was also one of the first to commonly "verbalize" the word, speaking the word "owned" after an abrupt "puh-" sound, as if bluntly laughing before using the jargon. This frequent pronunciation was later replicated on episodes of South Park ("Make Love, Not Warcraft", "The Ungroundable").

Usage: online and in popular culture

Some popular quotes involving "pwn" include:

• The 2006 South Park episode, "Make Love, Not Warcraft", satirized the game World of Warcraft. In the episode, the word is pronounced (pone), rhyming with "own". The same usage was later used in the episode "The Ungroundable".
  • "Looks like you're about to get pwned. Yeah!" - Eric Cartman (20m 30s into episode)
  • "That was such über-pwnage" - Kyle Broflovski (soon after above)
  • "Ha! You got pwned, Bebe!" - Eric Cartman to Bebe while playing Call of Duty (latter episode).
• In Teen Girl Squad, "PØwned" appears on the screen and is pronounced by Strong Bad as "Puh-owned! Or however you say that!" Later the derivative "P4wned" appears, referring to a pawnshop and is pronounced "Puh-awned".^[7]
• During the telecast of the 2006 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, Daniel Negreanu tells Mike Matusow that Mike Sexton pwned (; pond) Matusow with an especially good play. The closed-captioning, however, misinterpreted Negreanu's remark as "boned".
• The Internet show Pure Pwnage claims that the word is pronounced "own", as it was a spelling mistake in the first place.
• In the movie Employee of the Month, the character played by Dane Cook uses "pwned" (poned) during a competitive scene.
• One of the 2007 Hannah Montana episodes has the word pronounced (pone), rhyming with "own".
• The term was one of 16 to appear on the 2007 "List of Words and Phrases Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness", released annually by Lake Superior State University.^[8]
• The Crash Bandicoot character Doctor N. Gin yells the following phrase to his minions over the intercom of his explosives factory in the 2007 video game Crash of the Titans: "C'mon, mutant scum! Pwn his puny behind, or whatever the kids are saying these days!"
• MSNBC host Keith Olbermann has also used the word on several occasions.

See also

• Internet slang
• Leet
• Noob
• Owned
• Gosu
• Uber
• Lulz

References

da:Pwn no:Pwn pt:Pwn zh:Pwn

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