This originated from people misspelling "own." Own is a verb. It is used in online video games. Usually in FPS or RTS games when someone is killed or beaten in a game by another person in the game. If you tell someone you just killed, "You just got pwned!" Then they will take it very offensively. It was made popular when an employee from "Battle.net" made an error while he was making a map, and he spelled "own" as "pwn", and that is when people started pronouncing it incorrectly as "pone."

PWN (verb)

1. An act of dominating an opponent.

2. Great, ingenious; applied to methods and objects.

Originally dates back to the days of WarCraft, when a map designer mispelled "Own" as "Pwn". What was originally supose to be "player has been owned." was "player has been pwned".

Pwn eventually grew from there and is now used throughout the online world, especially in online games.

Perfect ownage. Flawless victory. Schooled. Lesson taught. Owned beyond conventional words, and so excited about it, it's mistyped. Usually proceeded by noob.

Pronunciation: (pôn) Originally a misspelling of the word own, as in to totally have a skillful advantage over someone or something pwn is to more than just own; to pwn.

The word Pwn was originally a typo from when the writer wanted to say Own. Pwn is commonly used in internet games, for example: Counter-Strike. Pwn is used to explain that the player was badly beaten.

A word, originating from a mispelled version of the word "own", used to describe a dominance of one person over another, usually in a video game.

pwn (vt. or vi.) 1. to defeat (someone)thoroughly or to a great extent 2. to outdo or outmatch (someone) past tense - pwnt or pwned ( ? < leet speak/gaming terminology p + (o)wn)

v. To dominate another, often in online gaming.

Originally a misspelling, 'pwn' has come to also be considered a contraction of the 'Perfect Own" of an opponent.

History: Pwn first surfaced in online play in 1992 - 1993 when MMORPGs were better known as MUDs. Pwn reached it's peak as a standard term amongst game players around the time of Bungie's Battle.Net (1997-).

Pwn has been absorbed into other common online-originating language mediums since then, such as Leet Speak and Singlish.

Other Uses:
Pwning, Pwnage, Pwned (past tense), Pwnt (past tense).