inkling

in·kling  (ngklng)

n.

1. A slight hint or indication.

2. A slight understanding or vague idea or notion.

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[Probably alteration of Middle English (a) ningkiling, (a) hint, suggestion, possibly alteration of nikking, from nikken, to mark a text for correction, from nik, notch, tally, perhaps from variant of Old French niche, niche; see niche.]

Word History: Inkling has nothing to do with ink, but it may have something to do with niches. Our story begins with the Old French (and Modern French) word niche, meaning "niche." It is possible that in Old French a variant form existed that was borrowed into Middle English as nik, meaning "a notch, tally." This word is probably related to the Middle English word nikking, meaning "a hint, slight indication," or possibly "a whisper, mention." Nikking appears only once, in a Middle English text composed around 1400. In another copy of the same text the word ningkiling appears, which may be a variant of nikking. This is essentially our word inkling already, the only major change being an instance of what is called false splitting, whereby people understood a ningkiling as an ingkiling. They did the same thing with a napron, getting an apron.

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inkling [ˈɪŋklɪŋ]

n

a slight intimation or suggestion; suspicion

[probably from inclen to hint at; related to Old English inca]

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inkle, inkling - To inkle is to communicate in an undertone or whisper, to give a hint of something, which gives us inkling.

See also related terms for hint.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

inkling - a slight suggestion or vague understanding; "he had no inkling what was about to happen" glimmering, intimation, glimmer suggestion - an idea that is suggested; "the picnic was her suggestion"

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inkling

noun suspicion, idea, hint, suggestion, notion, indication, whisper, clue, conception, glimmering, intimation, faintest or foggiest idea We had an inkling that something might be happening.

Translations

inkling [ˈɪŋklɪŋ] N (= vague idea) → idea f
I had no inkling that → no tenía ni la menor idea de que ...
we had some inkling of it → teníamos una vaga idea
there was no inkling of the disaster to come → nadie podía imaginarse el desastre que iba a sobrevenir
to give sb an inkling that → insinuar a algn que ...

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inkling [ˈɪŋklɪŋ] n
to have an inkling of sth → soupçonner qch, se douter de qch
I began to have an inkling of this woman's importance in John's life → Je commençais à me douter de l'importance de cette femme dans la vie de John., Je commençais à soupçonner l'importance de cette femme dans la vie de John.
to have no inkling of sth → n'avoir pas la moindre idée de qch
He had no inkling of the cause of the delay → Il n'avait pas la moindre idée de la cause du retard.
to have an inkling (that) → se douter que
She had an inkling that something was wrong → Elle se doutait que quelque chose n'allait pas.
to have no inkling (that)
We had no inkling that → Rien ne nous laissait supposer que ...

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inkling

n (= vague idea) → dunkle Ahnung; he didn’t have an inkling → er hatte nicht die leiseste Ahnung or keinen blassen Schimmer (inf); to give somebody an inkling → jdm eine andeutungsweise Vorstellung geben; there was no inkling of the disaster to come → nichts deutete auf die bevorstehende Katastrophe hin

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inkling [ˈɪŋklɪŋ] n (hint) → indizio; (suspicion, vague idea) → mezza idea
to give sb an inkling that → lasciar capire or intuire a qn che
I had no inkling that → non avevo la minima idea che

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inkling

n inkling [ˈiŋkliŋ]

a slight idea or suspicion (about something that is happening) I had no inkling of what was going on until she told me all about it. vermoede مَعْرِفَه قليلَه، أقل فِكْرَه عن намек tušení, ponětí anelse; mistanke die Ahnung υπόνοια, αμυδρή υποψία idea, sospecha aim(us) کوچکترین تصور aavistus idée, soupçon שֶׁמֶץ שֶׁל מוּשָג संकेत nagovještavanje sejtelem kecurigaan hugboð idea, sentore 感づくこと 넌지시 비침, 암시 supratimas, nuvokimas nojausma; priekšstats tidak dapat membayangkan vermoeden anelse, mistanke podejrzenie suspeita bănuială, idee слабое подозрение tušenie, zdanie slutnja nagoveštaj aning, hum ความเฉลียวใจ his 一絲想法，一點懷疑 підозра اشارہ ý niệm mơ hồ 细微感觉