chink

  

chink

1 [chingk]
noun
1.
a crack, cleft, or fissure: a chink in a wall.
2.
a narrow opening: a chink between two buildings.
verb (used with object)
3.
to fill up chinks in.
Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English; perhaps chine1 + -k suffix (see -ock)

Synonyms
1. breach, rent, cut.
Dictionary.com Unabridged

chink

2 [chingk]
verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
1.
to make, or cause to make, a short, sharp, ringing sound, as of coins or glasses striking together.
noun
2.
a chinking sound: the chink of ice in a glass.
3.
Slang. coin or ready cash.
Origin:
1565–75; imitative

00:10
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to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.
to bark; yelp.
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Chink

[chingk]
noun ( sometimes lowercase ) Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.
a Chinese.
Origin:
1900–05; earlier Chinkie apparently alteration of China, Chinese by association with chink1 (from the stereotypical Western image of Chinese as narrow-eyed); see -ie

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To Chink
Collins
World English Dictionary
chink1 (tʃɪŋk) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n
1.  a small narrow opening, such as a fissure or crack
2.  chink in one's armour a small but fatal weakness
 
—vb
3.  chiefly (US), (Canadian) (tr) to fill up or make cracks in
 
[C16: perhaps variant of earlier chine, from Old English cine crack; related to Middle Dutch kene, Danish kin]
 
'chinky1
 
—adj

chink2 (tʃɪŋk) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—vb
1.  to make or cause to make a light ringing sound, as by the striking of glasses or coins
 
—n
2.  such a sound
 
[C16: of imitative origin]

Chink or taboo Chinky (tʃɪŋk, ˈtʃɪŋkɪ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n, —adj , pl Chinks, Chinkies
an old-fashioned and highly derogatory term for Chinese
 
[C20: probably from Chinese, influenced by chink1 (referring to the characteristic shape of the Chinese eye)]
 
Chinky or taboo Chinky
 
—n, —adj
 
[C20: probably from Chinese, influenced by chink1 (referring to the characteristic shape of the Chinese eye)]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

chink
"slit," 1530s, from M.E. chine (with parasitic -k) from O.E. cinu "fissure," related to cinan "to crack, split, gape," from PIE base *gei-, *gi- "to germinate, bloom," connection being in the notion of bursting open.

chink
"a Chinaman," 1901, derogatory, perhaps derived somehow from China, or else from chink (1) with ref. to eye shape.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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