twink
/ˈtwɪŋk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.93 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The chaffinch.
Example Sentences
- "1921, Almira Bailey, “The Bay on Sunday Morning” in Vignettes of San Francisco, San Francisco: The San Francisco Journal, p. 18, […] chug of the fishermen’s boats, twink of lights in the harbor at night […]"
- "But even as he went, the smile began to come on his face, caught by the tail of the sturdy sister’s black eye, with its everlasting twink."
- "[…] in a twink she won me to her love."
- "I’d have known all about it in half a twink."
- "[…] and once again, in the twink of nothing, I was in another big high cab, all set to go hundreds of miles across the night, and was I happy!"
- "The chaffinch 'twinks, twinks!' sets up his topknot, and sings his very best to his mate that is sitting near him. Even the hedge sparrow and the wren sing well, although few would give them credit for it."
Etymology
From Middle English twinken, twynken, from Old English *twincian (“to wink; twinkle”), from Proto-West Germanic *twinkōn, from Proto-Germanic *twinkōną, an augmented form (with formative *-kōną; see English -k) of Proto-Germanic *twint- (“to twinkle”). Cognate with Middle High German zwinken, zwingen, modern German zwinkern (“to wink; twinkle”), Middle Dutch twinc (“a blink”), Middle High German zwinzen, zwinzern (“to blink, blink hard”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: twinken, *twincian, *twinkōn, *twinkōną, *twint-