inkling

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (4)  · 
“
It is only an inkling, a mere sliver of hope … but now, it is there.

View all »
Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A slight hint or indication.
  2. noun A slight understanding or vague idea or notion.
  3. Word History
    Inkling has nothing to do with ink, but it may have something to do with niches. Our story begins with the Old French (and Modern French) word niche, meaning "niche.” It is possible that in Old French a variant form existed that was borrowed into Middle English as nik, meaning "a notch, tally.” This word is probably related to the Middle English word nikking, meaning "a hint, slight indication,” or possibly "a whisper, mention.” Nikking appears only once, in a Middle English text composed around 1400. In another copy of the same text the word ningkiling appears, which may be a variant of nikking. This is essentially our word inkling already, the only major change being an instance of what is called false splitting, whereby people understood a ningkiling as an ingkiling. They did the same thing with a napron, getting an apron.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • I had no inkling, and was quite freaked out at how quick it was done … —  spacemai.com
  • If she did chance to get an inkling, then gladly she called in reply "Mr. Lamb," or "Mr. —  The Lost Girl
  • And now Pete gradually grasped in full that of which he had previously only had an inkling--that the pick of the prisoners had been reserved for man-o'-war's-men, those who were considered unsuitable having been reserved for handing over to the colonists. —  Nic Revel A White Slave's Adventures in Alligator Land
  • And so, David, Joan must not have the slightest inkling--she must go, when her time comes, unhampered. —  The Shield of Silence
  • It begins to enrich the mind and gives it some inkling, at least, of that ideal dominion which each centre of experience might have if it had learned to regard all others, and the relation connecting it with them, both in thought and in action. —  The Life of Reason
More examples »
 

Tags

inkling hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 98 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

presentiment ·  intimation ·  twinge ·  stirring ·  glimmer ·  rumour ·  tittle ·  foreboding
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Probably alteration of Middle English (a) ningkiling, (a) hint, suggestion, possibly alteration of nikking, from nikken, to mark a text for correction, from nik, notch, tally, perhaps from variant of Old French niche, niche; see niche.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from ME.inkling, ynkiling; verbal noun of inkle, v.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈɪŋklɪŋ/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word several times a year.

Recently looked up

brigades · babe · sleek · lode · Huff

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich