chink

Meanings

Noun

• A narrow opening such as a fissure or crack.
• A chip or dent in something metallic.
• A vulnerability or flaw in a protection system or in any otherwise formidable system.
• A slight sound as of metal objects touching each other; a clink.
• Ready money, especially in the form of coins.
• Alternative of kink

Verb

• To fill an opening such as the space between logs in a log house with chinking; to caulk.
• To crack; to open.
• To cause to open in cracks or fissures.
• To make a slight sound like that of metal objects touching.
• To cause to make a sharp metallic sound, as coins, small pieces of metal, etc., by bringing them into collision with each other.
• Alternative of kink

Origin

• Of uncertain origin; but apparently an extension (with formative -k) of Middle English chine, from Old English ċine ("a crack, chine, chink"), equivalent to chine + -k.
• Alternatively, the -k may represent an earlier unrecorded diminutive, perhaps from Middle English *chinek, making it equivalent to chine + -ock.
• Onomatopoeic.