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kink

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kink¹

  • /ˈkɪŋk/ US, UK
  • [ˈkʰɪŋk] US, UK
  • /ˈkiŋk/
  • [ˈkʰiŋk]
  • /ˈkɪ̝ŋk/ Australia
  • [ˈkʰɪ̝ŋk] Australia

Rhymes with -ɪŋk

Where it comes from

From Middle English kinken, kynken, from Old English *cincian (attested in cincung), from Proto-West Germanic *kinkōn, from Proto-Germanic *kinkōną (“to laugh”), from Proto-Indo-European *gang- (“to mock, jeer, deride”), related to Old English canc (“jeering, scorn, derision”). Cognate with Dutch kinken (“to kink, cough”).

verb kinks · kinking · kinked · chink

  1. To laugh loudly.
  2. To gasp for breath as in a severe fit of coughing.

noun kinks · chink

  1. Scotland, dialectal A convulsive fit of coughing or laughter; a sonorous indraft of breath; a whoop; a gasp of breath caused by laughing, coughing, or crying.

kink²

  • /ˈkɪŋk/ US, UK
  • [ˈkʰɪŋk] US, UK
  • /ˈkiŋk/
  • [ˈkʰiŋk]
  • /ˈkɪ̝ŋk/ Australia
  • [ˈkʰɪ̝ŋk] Australia

Rhymes with -ɪŋk

Where it comes from

From Dutch kink (“a twist or curl in a rope”), from Proto-Germanic *kenk-, *keng- (“to bend, turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *gengʰ- (“to turn, wind, braid, weave”). Compare Saterland Frisian Kink (“twist or entanglement in a rope or cord”), Middle Low German kinke (“spiral screw, coil”), Old Norse kikna (“to bend backwards, sink at the knee”), Icelandic kengur (“a bend or bight; a metal crook”). Probably related to kick.

noun kinks · k1nk · k!nk · k/nk · k*nk

  1. countable, uncountable A tight curl, twist, or bend in a length of thin material, hair etc. We couldn't get enough water to put out the fire because of a kink in the hose.
  2. countable, uncountable A difficulty or flaw that is likely to impede operation, as in a plan or system. They had planned to open another shop downtown, but their plan had a few kinks.
  3. countable, uncountable An unreasonable notion; a crotchet; a whim; a caprice. Never a Yankee was born or bred / Without that peculiar kink in his head / By which he could turn the smallest amount / Of whatever he had to the best account.
  4. countable, uncountable Peculiarity or deviation in sexual behaviour or taste. No more kink. Nothing. Finito. Got it?
  5. countable, uncountable A person with peculiar sexual tastes. "What do they think you know?" "No more than I've told you. That he's a kink. He rapes people and kills people and spends too much money and flies grass in."
  6. countable, uncountable Any sexual preference outside normal or expected norms.
  7. countable, uncountable A positive 1-soliton solution to the sine-Gordon equation.

verb kinks · kinking · kinked · k1nk · k!nk

  1. transitive To form a kink or twist.
  2. intransitive To be formed into a kink or twist.

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