different between trinket vs tchotchke

English

Etymology

Old English trenket (“a sort of knife”), hence, probably, a toy knife worn as an ornament; probably from an Old French dialectal form of trenchier (“to cut”). Compare trench.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

trinket (plural trinkets)

1. A small showy ornament or piece of jewelry

2. A thing of little value; a trifle; a toy.
   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xxiii:

     There is no art about the Eiffel Tower. In no way can it be said to have contributed to the real beauty of the Exhibition. Men flocked to see it and ascended it as it was a novelty and of unique dimensions. It was the toy of the Exhibition. So long as we are children we are attracted by toys, and the Tower was a good demonstration of the fact that we are all children attracted by trinkets. That may be claimed to be the purpose served by the Eiffel Tower.

3. (nautical) A three-cornered sail formerly carried on a ship's foremast, probably on a lateen yard.

   • Sayling alwayes with the sheates of mainesaile and trinket warily in our hands.

4. (obsolete) A knife; a cutting tool.

Synonyms

• (small ornament): See also: Thesaurus:trinket
• (item of little value): See also: Thesaurus:trifle

Translations

Verb

trinket (third-person singular simple present trinkets, present participle trinketing, simple past and past participle trinketed)

1. (obsolete) To give trinkets; to court favour.

Anagrams

• Knitter, knitter

German

Pronunciation

Verb

trinket

1. second-person plural subjunctive I of trinken

English

Alternative forms

• tsatske, chotchke, chachka, tshatshke, chatchka, chatchke

Etymology

First attested in American English in 1964, from Yiddish ????????? (tshatshke, “trinket”), from Polish cacko; compare Russian ?????? (cácka).

Pronunciation

Noun

tchotchke (plural tchotchkes)

1. (Canada, US) A trinket.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:trinket

   • 1998 Apr, Mark Rakatansky, A/Partments, in Assemblage 35, page 58, [1]

     I am a child of modernism – [...] As such I have inherited a distrust of the tchotchke, which I have still – [...]

   • 1999 Aug 8, Jesse McKinley, The Avant-Garde: Follow That Backpack, in The New York Times, page 5.16

     With limited cash and a thirst for uncommon sights, backpackers have pushed into challenging territory well before the big-money resorts or tchotchke merchants.
2. (Canada, US, dated) An attractive woman or girl.

   Synonym: bimbo

See also

• schwag

Further reading

• “tchotchke”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

References