[DTogo]

"pwn"

This is a word??

[McGruff]

Pwn (below: Various pronunciations) is a leetspeak slang term, derived from the verb “own”, as meaning to appropriate or to conquer to gain ownership. The term implies domination or humiliation of a rival, used primarily in the Internet gaming culture to taunt an opponent who has just been soundly defeated (e.g., “You just got pwned!”).

It was popular among Counter-Strike gamers before spreading through the more general Internet world. The past tense and past participle, pwned, may also be spelled: pwnd, pwn’d pwn3d, pwnt, poned or powned.

The author must be a gamer.

[Kolb]

Almost...it’s a slang variation of “own” or “owned”.

[teeman8r]

“pwn” stems from a typo on a cult video game that has a screen that pops up after it beats you...

you are “pwned”

meaning you are “owned”

the typo has achieved more fame than the game.

teeman

[I got the rope]

It’s a gamer word. I think it originated as a misspelled word in the game Warcraft. It has been around a long time.

It was supposed to say owned.

[PureSolace]

“pwn” is a gamer term. (Originating from either a StarCraft or WarCraft II map / modification where the word “own” was misspelled / typo’ed as “pwn”) Since then, “pwn” has been in use among gamer / geek circles, and apparently has spread from online gaming RTS, FPS, MMOs, etc. to ... blogging and journalism? :)

[Oztrich Boy]

series