ink·ling

[ingk-ling]
noun
1.
a slight suggestion or indication; hint; intimation: They hadn't given us an inkling of what was going to happen.
2.
a vague idea or notion; slight understanding: They didn't have an inkling of how the new invention worked.

Origin:
1505–15; obsolete inkle to hint (Middle English inklen) + -ing1; akin to Old English inca suspicion

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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World English Dictionary
inkling (ˈɪŋklɪŋ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
a slight intimation or suggestion; suspicion
 
[C14: probably from inclen to hint at; related to Old English inca]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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00:10
Inkling is always a great word to know.
So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

inkling
c.1400, apparently from the gerund of M.E. verb inclen "utter in an undertone" (mid-14c.), which perhaps is related to O.E. inca "doubt, suspicion."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
So, from the first inkling of an idea until submission can be a year or two for
  me.
Punters typically have no inkling of where their meal was caught.
Schumpeter had an inkling of this process but did not go far enough.
Yet it stretches credulity for the party to say that it had no inkling.
Synonym Game
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