Inkle

//ˈɪŋkl̩// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Narrow linen tape, used for trimmings or to make shoelaces countable, uncountable

    "COSTARD - '… What's the price of this inkle?'"

  2. 2
    a linen tape used for trimming as a decoration wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To hint at; disclose. rare, transitive
  2. 2
    To have a hint or inkling of; divine. rare, transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
alludebuttonfastenergirthimplyinsinuate

Example

More examples

"When I'm weaving narrow bands, I use a table top inkle loom."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English inklen, inclen (“to give an inkling of, hint at, mention, utter in an undertone”), derived from inke (“apprehension, misgiving”), from Old English inca (“doubt, suspicion”), from Proto-West Germanic *inkō, from Proto-Germanic *inkô (“ache, regret”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eng- (“illness”). Cognate with Old Frisian jinc (“angered”), Old Norse ekki (“pain, grief”), Norwegian ekkje (“lack, pity”).

Etymology 2

Apparently from earlier *ingle, perhaps from an incorrect division of lingle, lingel.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.