tinkle
/ˈtɪŋkəl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.36 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A light metallic sound, resembling the tinkling of bells or wind chimes.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The glasses tinkled together as they were placed on the table."
- "The sprightly horse / Moves to the music of his tinkling bells."
- "With a sound like tinkling bells, far off in a land of shepherds hidden by some hill, the waters of many fountains turned again home."
- "Outside, the crickets and the tree-frogs started to zing and tinkle and the great hawkmoths came to the wire-netting across the windows and clutched it, gazing with trembling ecstasy at the two oil lamps that hung from the cross-beams inside."
- "The butler tinkled dinner."
- "And his ears tinkled, and the colour fled."
Etymology
From Middle English tinclen, equivalent to tink + -le (frequentative suffix). Cognate with West Frisian tinkelje (“to tinkle”), Dutch tinkelen (“to tinkle”), German Low German tinkeln (“to flicker, glitter, sparkle”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtɪŋkəl/