frunk: front trunk of an automobile (Tesla electric car)

[Laurence Horn]

The VW bugs used to have such front trunks (with engine in rear), but I don't recall anyone calling them frunks.   Maybe if you sit on one of these while you eat a hot dog, it becomes a frunkfurter.

LH

On May 14, 2014, at 4:45 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:

> The Tesla Model S electric car does not have a motor in the front. The
> space beneath the front hood is called the "frunk". The first citation
> below suggests that someone at Tesla coined (or popularized) the term.
> I have not attempted to locate the earliest instance. A quick search
> at Wordspy, Barry Popik's website, and the ADS mailing list archive
> revealed no matches.
>
> Website:  FIVE THôT getthefive
> Article: The Eye Candy
> Author: David Allen Ibsen
> Date: July 07, 2012
> http://www.getthefive.com/articles/the-eye-candy/defining-the-frunk-tesla-names-the-front-trunk-in/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> The folks at Tesla also decided to define another aspect of the
> car—the front boot (trunk). You see, the front section of the car—what
> has been called the abandoned engine bay, creates a front trunk space,
> or front-trunk which Tesla calls the "frunk."
> [End excerpt]
>
>
> Website: The Oatmeal
> Comic title: What it's like to own a Tesla Model S: A cartoonist's
> review of his magical space car
> Author: The Oatmeal (Matthew Inman)
> Date: Not listed
> http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla_model_s
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> If you pop the hood, there's nothing inside. No engine. No gurgling
> tubes. No sputtering oil. It's just a big empty space known as the
> "frunk" (front tunk)
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org