pencil-necked
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Weak or ineffectual, often due to lack of physical strength
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
yếu đuối hoặc không hiệu quả, thường do thiếu sức mạnh thể chất
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: having a neck like a pencil
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
He was a pencil-necked geek who got bullied in school
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “pencil-necked” mean?
Weak or ineffectual, often due to lack of physical strength Literally: having a neck like a pencil
Is “pencil-necked” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.