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inkling

noun
/ˈɪŋklɪŋ/US

Etymology

From Middle English ningkiling, nyngkiling (“hint, slight indication; mention, whisper”), and then either: * possibly a variant of nikking, nyckyng (“hint, slight indication; mention, whisper”), possibly from nikken (“to mark (a text) for correction (?)”) + -ing, -inge (suffix forming gerunds from verbs); or * more likely from the rebracketing of an inklyng as a ninkiling, from Middle English inklen (“to mention (in a low voice); to tell (the truth)”) [and other forms] + -ing, -inge; inklen may be derived from inca, inke (“dread, fear; doubt; danger, risk (?)”), from Old English inca (“doubt, uncertainty; suspicion; fear; cause for complaint, grievance, grudge, ill-will, offence; quarrel; occasion, opportunity”), from Proto-Germanic *inkô (“ache; grief; regret”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eng-, *yenǵ- (“illness”). The English word would then be analysable as inkle + -ing. Sense 3 (“desire, inclination”) may have been influenced by incline (“to tend to believe or do something”) or French enclin (“inclined, prone”).

  1. derived from enclin — “inclined, prone”
  2. derived from *h₁eng-✻
  3. inherited from *inkô✻ — “ache; grief; regret”
  4. inherited from inca — “doubt, uncertainty; suspicion; fear; cause for complaint, grievance, grudge, ill-will, offence; quarrel; occasion, opportunity”
  5. derived from inklen — “to mention (in a low voice); to tell (the truth)”
  6. inherited from ningkiling

Definitions

  1. Usually preceded by forms of to give

    Usually preceded by forms of to give: a slight hint, implication, or suggestion given., A vague idea about something.

    • [T]he present recalled the past, robed in the memories of its thousand dark and damning deeds of ignorance and superstition, and gave inklings of a brighter and better future; [...]
    • You ought to know something of French habits, at your age. You must have read books that give an inkling of it.
    • A passage from one of her [Rosa Luxemberg's] letters written from prison to a young friend, Dr. Hans Diefenbacker, in the spring of 1917 will suffice to give an inkling of this passion: [...]

  2. Often preceded by forms of to get or to have

    Often preceded by forms of to get or to have: an imprecise idea or slight knowledge of something; a suspicion.

  3. A desire, an inclination.

  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. present participle and gerund of inkle

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for inkling. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA