Tink

//tɪŋk// noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A sharp, quick sound; a tinkle. dated
  2. 2
    A member of the travelling community. A gypsy. British, Ireland, offensive

    "'Most have white eyes, which ain't natural in any beast, tame or wild, and they are considered unlucky - the tinks calls 'em moonpies, and most will avoid settling on farms where they are kept."

Verb
  1. 1
    To emit a high-pitched sharp or metallic noise.

    "Jimmy heard the bells tink."

  2. 2
    To unknit. slang, transitive

    "Stanley knitted when he should have purled and swore, tinking the knitting back to fix the flaw."

  3. 3
    make or emit a high sound wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
tinkletinklechimechimingchinkclang

Example

More examples

"Stanley knitted when he should have purled and swore, tinking the knitting back to fix the flaw."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English tinken, possibly from Old English *tincian, equivalent to tin + -k. Compare Dutch tinken (“to tink, toll, strike the bells of a clock”), German Low German tinken (“to tink”). Compare also English ting.

Etymology 2

knit spelled backwards.

Etymology 3

Shortened from tinker.

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