20 May 2020
Chonk is a slang term used to refer to overweight cats, and by extension, other animals and people. For instance, the following story appeared in numerous news outlets in December 2018. This particular instance is from NBC–8 WFLA in Tampa, Florida:
On Tuesday, the Monterey Bay Aquarium tweeted a photo of a 46-pound otter named Abby with the caption, "Abby is a thicc girl. What an absolute unit. She c h o n k."
For those unfamiliar with the vernacular, the word "chonk" has been used as slang to describe both curvy women and obese house cats.
Like most slang terms, the exact coinage cannot be determined, but its use exploded in popularity in August 2018 when Emilie Chiang tweeted:
IS your chumk a chonk? Are you unsure of CHONK whenst you sees it? Behold:
And she accompanied the tweet with an image of a veterinary, feline body-fat index chart that had been photoshopped with the categories:
• A Fine Boi
• He Chomnk
• A Heckin’ Chonker
• HEFTYCHONK
• MEGACHONKER
• OH LAWD HE COMIN
Chonk is most likely a variation on chunky, a colloquial adjective for someone of stout build that dates to the eighteenth century.
While most people do not intend a racial implication in their use of the term, the use of American Black dialect words and phrases (i.e., thicc and Oh Lawd, he comin) in Chiang’s original tweet and in some of public instantiations of the term, such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s use, have come under fire for making questionable comparisons between Black women and animals. The word chonk itself, however, is not particularly found in Black dialect.
Sources:
“Chonk / Oh Lawd He Comin.” Know Your Meme, 26 September 2019.
“Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Otter Fat-Shaming Tweet Ignites Online Firestorm.” NBC-8 WFLA (Tampa, Florida), 22 December 2018. NewsBank.
Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989. s.v. chunky, adj.