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Pwn (/oʊn/, /poʊn/, /pəʔˈoʊn/, /pɔːn/, /piˈoʊn/, /pwəʔˈn̩/) is a leetspeak slang term that implies domination or humiliation of a rival, used primarily in the Internet gaming culture to taunt an opponent that has just been soundly defeated. Past tense is sometimes spelled pwnt (pronounced with a t sound) or pwned (with the standard d sound). Examples include "pwnage" or "you just got pwned". It can also be used, especially by non-gamers, in the context of getting "pwned" by The Man.

In Internet security 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" was originally created by the Starsiege: Tribes player: Satilbeam as a typo on a message forum. The word was then used as an alternative to the word "own" in order to mock the player, but then was adopted by other players and used themselves.

Pronunciation

Given the recent development of the word and its primary use in written form only, there is no single accepted pronunciation of pwn, as w does not typically represent vowels in English. However, "own", "pawn", "poon" and "pone" are frequently used, and "pwen" is also considered an acceptable pronunciation.^[1]

Only two words in English have a "w" as a vowel; both are Welsh loanwords. A cwm (Template:PronEng to rhyme with "womb") is a cirque in a mountaintop, and a crwth (Template:PronEng to rhyme with "tooth") is a type of lyre. This gives a possible pronunciation of "pwn" as the final syllable of "harpoon" (Template:PronEng).

Use, 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 [poʊn] (pone), rhyming with "own".
- "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)
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".^[2]
During the telecast of the 2006 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, Daniel Negreanu tells Mike Matusow that Mike Sexton pwned ([poʊnd]; pond) Matusow with an especially good play. The closed-captioning, however, misinterpreted Negreanu's remark as "boned".
The Internet TV 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.
The vodcast Bikini News, in their episode Guide To Getting Your Crappy Video Seen Online!!!, states that by following their advice, "You'll pwn all of us!".
One of the 2007 Hannah Montana episodes has the word pronounced [poʊn] (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.^[3]
The RiffTrax audio track for the movie Batman and Robin uses the term in a series of riffs, where Mike Nelson claims that it is pronounced "owned".

References

^ Pwn, PCMagazine Experts Help Encyclopedia, accessed 2 March 2008
^ Tenth Issue-versary!!
^ "Lake Superior State University 2007 List of Banished Words". Lake Superior State University. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

External links

"Pwned - 10 Tales of Appropriation in Video Games" (Martin Pichlmair)
"Computer Slang"
"Problems of the 'IM Generation'" (Zach Vosseler)

[pcmag-1] Pwn, PCMagazine Experts Help Encyclopedia, accessed 2 March 2008

[2] Tenth Issue-versary!!

[3] "Lake Superior State University 2007 List of Banished Words". Lake Superior State University. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

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 ==Etymology==
+The word "pwn" was originally created by the Starsiege: Tribes player: Satilbeam as a typo on a message forum.  The word was then used as an alternative to the word "own" in order to mock the player, but then was adopted by other players and used themselves.
-The word "pwn" may have arisen and spread as a common [[typo]] of the word "own," due to the proximity of the 'p' and 'o' keys on a [[QWERTY|standard English keyboard]]. <ref name=about>About.com, [http://internetgames.about.com/library/glossary/bldef-pwn.htm pwn - own], accessed [[1 January]], [[2006]]</ref><ref name=ms>Microsoft, [http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/children/kidtalk.mspx Microsoft Security At Home: Child Safety, A parent's primer to computer slang], accessed [[1 January]], [[2006]]</ref> Alternatively, the word pwnage may have been created as a [[portmanteau]] of the words "pure" and "ownage," "perfect" and "ownage," or "powerful" and "ownage." Similarly, "pwn" may have derived from "powerfully owned," such as "you just got powerfully owned!" (shortened to "you just got pwned!").
 ==Pronunciation==