different between clink vs tinkle

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kl??k/
• Rhymes: -??k

Etymology 1

From Middle English clinken, from Old English *clincan (compare clynnan, clynian (“to sound; resound”)), from Proto-Germanic *klingan? (“to sound”). Cognates include Middle Dutch klinken and German klingen. Doublet of call.

Perhaps of onomatopoeic origin, as metal against metal.

Noun

clink (plural clinks)

1. (onomatopoeia) The sound of metal on metal, or glass on glass.

   You could hear the clink of the glasses from the next room.

   • 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life Chapter V

     When Frere had come down, an hour before, the prisoners were all snugly between their blankets. They were not so now; though, at the first clink of the bolts, they would be back again in their old positions, to all appearances sound asleep.

Translations

Verb

clink (third-person singular simple present clinks, present participle clinking, simple past and past participle clinked)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make a clinking sound; to make a sound of metal on metal or glass on glass; to strike materials such as metal or glass against one another.

   The hammers clinked on the stone all night.

   • ?, Alfred Tennyson, Mariana

     The broken sheds look'd sad and strange:
     Unlifted was the clinking latch

2. (humorous, dated) To rhyme.

Translations

Etymology 2

From the Clink prison in Southwark, London, itself presumably named after sound of doors being bolted or chains rattling.

Noun

clink (plural clinks)

1. (slang) A prison.

   If he keeps doing things like that, he’s sure to end up in the clink.

2. Stress cracks produced in metal ingots as they cool after being cast.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:jail

Etymology 3

Verb

clink (third-person singular simple present clinks, present participle clinking, simple past and past participle clinked)

1. (transitive, Scotland) To clinch; to rivet.

Anagrams

• Linck

English

Etymology

From Middle English tinclen, equivalent to tink +? -le (frequentative suffix).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?t??k?l/
• Rhymes: -??k?l

Verb

tinkle (third-person singular simple present tinkles, present participle tinkling, simple past and past participle tinkled)

1. (intransitive) To make light metallic sounds, rather like a very small bell.
   • 1753, Robert Dodsley, Agriculture

     The sprightly horse / Moves to the music of his tinkling bells.

2. (transitive) To cause to tinkle.
3. (transitive) To indicate, signal, etc. by tinkling.

4. To hear, or resound with, a small, sharp sound.

   • And his ears tinkled, and the colour fled.

5. (intransitive, informal) To urinate.

Synonyms

• (urinate): See Thesaurus:urinate

Derived terms

• atinkle
• tinkle-down
• tinkle the ivories

Translations

Noun

tinkle (plural tinkles)

1. A light metallic sound, resembling the tinkling of bells or wind chimes.
2. (Britain, informal) A telephone call.

   Synonyms: call, ring

3. (informal, euphemistic) An act of urination.

Translations