What does bunkoed mean?
To be bunkoed is to be swindled — cheated out of money or property through a confidence trick rather than outright force. The word derives from bunko (also spelled bunco), a term for a swindle that swept across late nineteenth-century America, where traveling con artists fleeced victims with rigged games of chance and bogus schemes. Being bunkoed implies not merely bad luck but deliberate deception: the victim was manipulated into handing over money voluntarily, usually by someone who seemed trustworthy. The term carries informal register and distinctly American flavor, appearing most often in accounts of old-fashioned scams, police reports of fraud rings, and nostalgic descriptions of carnival-era sharp practices. Though modern speakers are likelier to say conned or scammed, bunkoed survives as a colorful reminder of an era when the confidence game had its own dedicated lexicon, and it remains useful shorthand for describing anyone taken in by a polished fraudster's charm.
verb (past tense and past participle of 'bunko')Swindled or cheated out of money through a confidence trick; deceived by fraud.
- Swindled or defrauded by a confidence trick.
"He was bunkoed out of his life savings by a smooth-talking salesman."
"Investors claimed they had been bunkoed by a fake real-estate scheme."
"The old man realized too late that he'd been bunkoed out of five hundred dollars."
The word 'bunko' gave rise to the entire criminal vocabulary of the con — and being 'bunkoed' once meant you'd fallen for America's oldest street swindle.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bunkoed
Bunko entered American English in the latter half of the nineteenth century, likely as a variant of the older word bunco, which named both a dishonest gambling game and the swindles built around it. The ultimate origin of the Spanish-derived root behind these terms is uncertain, though it has been linked to the Spanish word banca ('bank' or 'bench'). From the noun grew a family of swindle-related words, including bunko steerer (a shill who lured victims) and bunko artist. The past-tense form bunkoed followed naturally as Americans began describing the act of cheating as well as the cheat itself.
Related word forms
How bunkoed is actually used
Informal American English. The base form 'bunko' (also spelled 'bunco') is more commonly encountered than its inflected forms today.
Easily confused with bunkoed
Bonkers is an adjective meaning crazy, whereas bunkoed means having been swindled.