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ILK

[ilk]

Origin

noun

family, class, or kind: he and all his ilk.

adjective

same.

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Ilk is always a great word to know.

So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

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Idiom

of that ilk,

(in Scotland) of the same family name or place: Ross of that ilk, i.e., Ross of Ross.

of the same class or kind.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English ilke, Old English ilca (pronoun) the same, equivalent to demonstrative i (cognate with Gothic is he, Latin is that) + a reduced form of līc like¹; compare which, such

Dictionary.com Unabridged

pronoun

each.

adjective

each; every.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English ilk, north variant of ilch, Old English ylc (pronoun) each

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To ILK

Collins

World English Dictionary

ilk¹ (ɪlk)

—n
1.	a type; class; sort (esp in the phrase of that, his, her, etc, ilk): people of that ilk should not be allowed here
2.	(Scot) of that ilk of the place of the same name: used to indicate that the person named is proprietor or laird of the place named: Moncrieff of that ilk

usage Although the use of ilk in the sense of sense 1 is sometimes condemned as being the result of a misunderstanding of the original Scottish expression of that ilk, it is nevertheless well established and generally acceptable

ilk or ilka² (ɪlk, ˈɪlkə)

—*determiner*
	(Scot) each; every

[Old English ǣlc each (+ a¹)]

ilka or ilka²

—*determiner*

[Old English ǣlc each (+ a¹)]

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

ilk

O.E. ilca "same" (n. and adj.), probably from demonstrative particle i- (cognate with Goth. is "he" and first element of L. idem) + -lic "form" (see like). Of similar formation are which and such. Phrase of that ilk implies coincidence of name and estate, as in Lundie of Lundie;

EXPAND

applied usually to families, so by c.1790 it began to be used with meaning "family," then broadening to "type, sort."

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"The cow is of the bovine ilk; One end is moo, the other, milk."

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