What does "trinket" mean?
A small, showy ornament, especially a piece of jewellery.
Trinket
/ˈtɹɪŋkɪt/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A small, showy ornament, especially a piece of jewellery.
- Grammar: trinket is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: bauble, gewgaw, novelty, tchotchke.
- Useful contrasts: disposable item, essential item, forgotten object.
- Usage evidence: Which trinket do you want to buy? This one looks pretty!
How to use "trinket"
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Meaning check
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Source and review context
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Before you rely on this definition
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 A small, showy ornament, especially a piece of jewellery.
"That little trinket around her neck must have cost a bundle."
- 2 A narrow or small watercourse. Ireland, Northern-Ireland, Scotland
"It must have been about the same moment that a smack drew through the fine mist in the Firth [of Forth], and, sailing up the trinket, landed Provost Trail on the east pier-head."
- 3 A small vessel for drinking from; a cup, a mug, a porringer. UK, dialectal, obsolete
"Mrs. Bargrave asked her, vvhether ſhe vvould not drink ſome Tea. Says Mrs. Veal, I do not care if I do: But I'le VVarrant this Mad Fellovv (meaning Mrs. Bargraves Husband,) has broke all your Trinckets."
- 4 A small sail, specifically, a three-cornered sail formerly carried on a ship's foremast, probably on a lateen yard. obsolete
"[H]ee ſet up the trinkets or ſmall ſailes, meaning to make vvay into the deepe, commanding them that follovved ſtill, to make head, and direct their provvs againſt the right vving neere the land."
- 5 cheap showy jewelry or ornament on clothing wordnet
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 A thing of little value; a toy, a trifle. figuratively
"It’s only a little trinket, but it reminds her of him."
- 7 A small item of food; a small dainty. obsolete
"[L]et Tim send the ale and the sack, and the nipperkin of double-distilled, with a bit of diet-loaf, or some such trinket, and score it to the new comer."
- 8 A small item forming part of a set of equipment; an accessory, an accoutrement. in-plural, obsolete
"Good huſbandes that laye, to ſaue all thing vpright: / for Tumbrels and cartes, haue a ſhed redy dight. / A ſtore houſe for trinkets, kept cloſe as a iayle: / that nothing be wanting, the worthe of a nayle."
- 9 An item used in a religious rite (also, a religious rite, belief, etc.) regarded as superfluous or trivial. derogatory, figuratively, obsolete
"[T]he ſame teachers with Chriſts doctrine mingled Jewiſhnes and ſuperſticious Philoſophie, obſeruing and keping certain poyntes of the lawe, ſuperſticiously alſo honouring the Sunne, the Moone, and ſtarres, with ſuch other trinkettes of this world, hearing the Coloſſiãs [Colossians] in hand that thei were alſo bound to do the ſame."
Verb
- 1 Often followed by out: to adorn (someone or something) with trinkets (noun etymology 1 sense 1). rare, transitive
"Oh! those were good Dame Nature’s times! / How memories sweet o’er-swarm us, / Ere wasp-like forms were girt around / With ‘bustles’ so enormous; / When modest arms were never bared / And trinketed for show, / Nor ever left their hiding-place, / Save to be hid in dough!"
- 2 To act in a secret, and often dishonest, way; to have secret, and often dishonest, dealings; to intrigue, to scheme. Scotland, intransitive, obsolete
"And if any one aſkes me, hovv? and if I be of their Cabinet Council? I ſhall onely ſmile, perceiving they doe not knovv me. I am far from that, or having ever to doe vvith Kings or States in that kind, or pragmatically trinketing vvith State affaires, it being a Rule vvhich I live by, never to aſke great men mercy."
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
disposable itemessential itemforgotten objectfunctional item
Example
"Which trinket do you want to buy? This one looks pretty!"
Common questions
What is a synonym for "trinket"?
Common synonyms include: bauble, gewgaw, novelty, tchotchke, a continental, a curse.
How do you use "trinket" in a sentence?
Which trinket do you want to buy? This one looks pretty!
How do you pronounce "trinket"?
Pronounced /ˈtɹɪŋkɪt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
The origin of the noun is unknown; the word is possibly related to Old French tryncle (“piece of jewellery”). The following have also been suggested: * From Middle English trenket, trynket (“small knife, specifically, a cordwainer’s knife”). * From trick (“plaything, toy; trifle”, noun) or trick (verb). However, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, there is insufficient evidence of any shift of meaning from these words to the current meanings of trinket. The verb is derived from the noun.
Etymology 2
PIE word *tréyes From trink (“(UK, dialectal, especially Scotland) channel, watercourse; trench”) + -et (diminutive suffix); compare Scots trink. Trink is possibly derived from Occitan trencque, trenque (Picardy), from Old French trenche, tranche (“trench”) (modern French tranche), from trenchier (“to cut”); further etymology uncertain, possibly: * from Latin truncāre, the present active infinitive of truncō (“to maim or mutilate by cutting off pieces; to truncate”), from truncus (“tree trunk; piece cut off”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *twerḱ- (“to carve; to cut off, trim”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs); or * from Vulgar Latin *trinicāre (“to cut into three parts”), from Latin tri- (prefix meaning ‘three’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”)) + duplicāre (“to double by dividing, split in two, tear”); possibly also influenced by Gaulish *trincare (“to cut off (the head)”).
Etymology 3
Origin uncertain, possibly: * from trinket (“small, showy ornament; thing of little value”) (see etymology 1); or * borrowed from Welsh trànked.
Etymology 4
PIE word *tréyes Probably from French trinquet (“foremast; sail attached to a foremast”), from Italian trinchetto (“small sail, especially a foresail”), possibly from Latin triquetrus (“three-cornered, triangular”) (referring to a three-cornered sail), from tri- (prefix meaning ‘three’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”)) + Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₁d- (“sharp”). Cognates * Catalan trinquet, triquete * French trinquet, trinquette * Italian trinchetto * Portuguese traquete * Spanish trinquete, trinquetilla
Etymology 5
Possibly borrowed from Scots trinket, trincket; further origin unknown, possibly related to: * trinket (“item used in a religious rite (also, a religious rite, belief, etc.) regarded as superfluous or trivial”) (see etymology 1); or * trick (noun) or trick (verb).