URBAN DICTIONARY DEFINITIONS OF 'PWNED': WIKIPEDIA ... - ABC

URBAN DICTIONARY DEFINITIONS OF ‘PWNED’: There are currently 170 contributions for the term ‘pwned’ in the Urban Dictionary online. The most common explanations are: -

that it originated from a spelling error during a computer game – ‘owned’ was mistakenly typed as ‘pwned’. that it is a portmanteau of the words ‘power’ and ‘owned’ or ‘perfectly owned’ (where the opponent is defeated without having inflicted any damage)

Either way, the general consensus is that it effectively means an opponent has been defeated, or ‘owned’.

WIKIPEDIA DEFINITION OF ‘PWNED’: 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, pawned, or powned. In hacker jargon, pwn means to compromise or control, specifically another computer (server or PC), web site, gateway device, or application. It is synonymous with one of the definitions of hacking or cracking. The Pwnie Awards are awarded by a group of security researchers. Popularity of the term among teenagers rose in the mid-2000s, with the spread from the Internet written form to use in spoken language.