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kink

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

See also: Kink

English

WOTD – 21 April 2007
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Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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”).

Alternative forms

Verb

kink (third-person singular simple present kinks, present participle kinking, simple past and past participle kinked)

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

Noun

kink (plural kinks)

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

Etymology 2

From Dutch kink (“a twist or curl in a rope”),[1] from Proto-Germanic *kenk-, *keng- (“to bend, turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *gengʰ- (“to turn, wind, braid, weave”). Compare 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.

Alternative forms

  • k1nk, k!nk, k/nk, k*nk (bowdlerizations)

Noun

kink (countable and uncountable, plural kinks)

  1. 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. 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. An unreasonable notion; a crotchet; a whim; a caprice.
    • 1856, Frederick Swartwout Cozzens, The Sparrowgrass Papers:
      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.
    • 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 17:
      "Still, boozers can be worked sometimes. Most people can, if you encourage their kink. One old woman staked me for three months because she got such a kick out of scandalmongering the neighbours to me."
  4. (informal, countable or uncountable) Peculiarity or deviation in sexual behaviour or taste.
    Synonym: paraphilia
    Antonym: normophilia
    • 2013, Alison Tyler, H Is for Hardcore, page 13:
      To top it all off, Lynn is into kink. Last night she was really into kink. It's a good thing that today is my day off because I need the time to recuperate and think things over.
  5. (informal, countable) A person with peculiar sexual tastes.
    Synonym: kinkster
    • 1985, John Dann MacDonald, Five Complete Travis McGee Novels, page 254:
      "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."
    • 2013, James Hadley Chase, A Can of Worms:
      “He's a kink. All I have to do is toss off my clothes and dance around his apartment while he sits and drools.”
  6. (mathematics) A positive 1-soliton solution to the sine-Gordon equation.
Derived terms
Translations
See also

Verb

kink (third-person singular simple present kinks, present participle kinking, simple past and past participle kinked)

  1. (transitive) To form a kink or twist.
  2. (intransitive) To be formed into a kink or twist.
Derived terms
Translations

References

  1. [1]
    Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “kink”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

Dutch

Estonian

Hungarian

Yola

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