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clinker

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clinker¹

  • /ˈklɪŋkə(ɹ)/ UK
  • /ˈklɪŋkɚ/ US

Rhymes with -ɪŋkə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

From Dutch klinkaerd, later klinker, from klinken (“to ring, resound”).

noun clinkers · klinker

  1. countable, uncountable A very hard brick used for paving customarily made in the Netherlands. She left the road at the little shed where he whom she still regarded as her father used to keep his tricycle, and walked up the clinker path towards the house.

    Similar: Dutch clinker

  2. countable, uncountable A mass of bricks fused together by intense heat.
  3. countable, uncountable Slag or ash produced by intense heat in a furnace, kiln or boiler that forms a hard residue upon cooling. The coal was terrible stuff—Indian, Abdul told me. The "dart" was used often and I saw some monster clinkers.
  4. countable, uncountable An intermediate product in the manufacture of Portland cement, obtained by sintering limestone and alumino-silicate materials such as clay into nodules in a cement kiln.
  5. countable, uncountable Hardened volcanic lava. This wall of rock, which had no doubt once formed the lip of the crater, was about a mile and a half thick, and still covered with clinker.
  6. countable, uncountable A scum of oxide of iron formed in forging.

verb clinkers · clinkering · clinkered · klinker

  1. ambitransitive To convert or be converted into clinker. This burning has baked and clinkered the adjacent strata, producing a very resistant formation, which rises with conspicuous abruptness from the flat terrace underlain by the soft Lebo shale member.

clinker²

  • /ˈklɪŋkə(ɹ)/ UK
  • /ˈklɪŋkɚ/ US

Rhymes with -ɪŋkə(ɹ)

noun clinkers · klinker

  1. Someone or something that clinks.
  2. in plural Fetters.
  3. slang A mistake or blunder.

clinker³

  • /ˈklɪŋkə(ɹ)/ UK
  • /ˈklɪŋkɚ/ US

Rhymes with -ɪŋkə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

From clincher.

noun klinker

  1. attributive, uncountable A style of boatbuilding using overlapping planks. clinker planking; a clinker dinghy

    Similar: lapstrake

Clinker⁴

proper noun

  1. A surname.

Translations

Every language

noun very hard brick for paving

Русскийкли́нкер klínker, голла́ндский кирпи́ч gollándskij kirpíč

noun slag or ash

日本語クリンカー kurinkā
中文爐渣 /炉渣 lúzhā, 煤渣 méizhā
DeutschSchlacke
Русскийшлак šlak

noun intermediate product

Portuguêsclínquer, clinker

noun sthg that clinks

中文叮当响的东西

noun boatbuilding style

Españoltingladillo
DeutschKlinkerbauweise

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MLA

"clinker." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/clinker. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

clinker. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/clinker

Chicago

"clinker." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/clinker.

BibTeX
@misc{clinker_2026,
  title = {clinker},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/clinker},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}