pwn

verb

 primarily a written form  ;

often read as

ˈpōn 

pwned; pwning; pwns

transitive verb

slang

: to dominate and defeat (someone or something) : own sense 1b, rout entry 2 sense 1a

Online gamers use "pwn" to describe annihilating an opponent, or owning them. The word came from misspelling "own" by gamers typing quickly and striking the letter P instead of the neighboring letter O.

—Christopher Rhoads

No government, including Britain's, should have the power to pwn the Internet, and destroy it in the process.

—Amie Stepanovich

Why pwn the noobs from your couch when you could do it in front of an audience at New York's first-ever Fortnite In The Heights Tournament?

—Eva Kis

Then, a bunch of federal attorneys general got pwned in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding their prosecution of medical marijuana businesses, which is a pretty big deal.

—Vince Silwoski

Examples of pwn in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

These elite bounty-hunting hackers and security researchers have a strict time limit in which to successfully 'pwn' the targets in question. —Davey Winder, Forbes, 23 Mar. 2023

Word History

Etymology

respelling of own entry 2, probably originally from a typing error, p and o being adjacent letters on the QWERTY keyboard

First Known Use

1999, in the meaning defined above