Word.ws English Dictionary

chink

/t͡ʃɪŋk//t͡ʃɪŋk/

chink noun: a narrow opening such as a fissure or crack. Also the alternative form of kink.

Noun (1)

chink (plural chinks)

  1. A narrow opening such as a fissure or crack.
    • What a pity they didn’t stop up the chinks and the crannies though, and thrust in a little lint here and there.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 2, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 10
    • Yet I did not give way, but settled to wait for the dawn, which must, I knew, be now at hand; for then I thought enough light would come through the chinks of the tomb above to show me how to set to work.[1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    aperture
    1. A narrow beam or patch of light admitted by such an opening.
      • I noticed a chink of light under the door.
      • A chink of light offering a possible settlement to one part of the rail dispute comes as the RMT is to ballot its members at Network Rail on whether to accept an improved offer.2023 March 22, Mel Holley, “Network News: RMT to ballot Network Rail members on improved offer”, in RAIL, number 979, page 12
  2. A chip or dent in something metallic.
    • The warrior saw a chink in her enemy's armor, and aimed her spear accordingly.
  3. (figuratively) A vulnerability or flaw in a protection system or in any otherwise formidable system.
    • The chink in the theory is that the invaders have superior muskets.
    • The first chink in Arsenal's relaxed afternoon occurred when key midfielder Samir Nasri pulled up with a hamstring injury and was replaced.2011 January 30, Kevin Darling, “Arsenal 2 - 1 Huddersfield”, in BBC

Verb (1)

chink (third-person singular simple present chinks, present participle chinking, simple past and past participle chinked)

  1. (transitive) To fill an opening such as the space between logs in a log house with chinking; to caulk.
    • to chink a wall
  2. (intransitive) To crack; to open.
  3. (transitive) To cause to open in cracks or fissures.

Noun (2)

chink (countable and uncountable, plural chinks)

  1. (countable) A slight sound as of metal objects touching each other; a clink.
    • She swallow, set the cup down like she want to break it, and the ice-blocks jump, make a chink sound.2020, Abi Daré, The Girl With The Louding Voice, Sceptre, page 138
  2. (archaic, colloquial, dated, uncountable) Ready money, especially in the form of coins.
    • to leave his chink to better hands1727, William Somerville, Occasional Poems, "The Fortune-Hunter"
    • I thought that if all the hills about there were pure chink, and all belonged to me, I would give them if I could just talk to her when I wanted to […]1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of, Nebraska, published 1987, pages 47–8

Verb (2)

chink (third-person singular simple present chinks, present participle chinking, simple past and past participle chinked)

  1. (intransitive) To make a slight sound like that of metal objects touching.
    • The coins were chinking in his pocket.
  2. (transitive) To cause to make a sharp metallic sound, as coins, small pieces of metal, etc., by bringing them into collision with each other.
    • He chinks his purse1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the First”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC, page 2

Noun (3) capitalized: Chink

Chink (plural Chinks)

  1. (derogatory, ethnic, offensive, slur) A person of perceived Chinese ethnicity or descent.
    • Then her eyes, always alert for the affairs of her kitchen, fell on some action of the Chinese cook which aroused her violent disapproval. She turned on him with a torrent of abuse. The Chink was not backward to defend himself, and a very lively quarrel ensued.1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 51”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC
    • [Ignatz Mouse:] A new Chink in town, and acting mighty queer too – I suspect foul play.1920 October 17, George Herriman, Krazy Kat, comic strip
  2. (broadly, derogatory, ethnic, offensive, slur) A person of perceived East Asian descent.
  3. (ethnic, offensive, slur) A meal of Chinese food.
    • Let's order some Chink. Where's that menu? I think we've got the stuff we usually order circled. I'm starved!1995, “Daddy's on the Drink” (track 12), in Shame-Based Man, performed by Bruce McCulloch
    Synonyms:
    chinky

Adjective capitalized: Chink

Chink (comparative more Chink, superlative most Chink)

  1. (derogatory, ethnic, offensive, slur) Chinese, or perceived to be Chinese.
  2. (derogatory, ethnic, offensive, slur) East Asian.

Proper noun capitalized: Chink

Chink

  1. (derogatory, ethnic, offensive, slur) The Chinese language.
    • > >I see you are trying to post in chink. Ha!! Ha!!
      >
      > No, that was an English translation of your post.
      Your^([sic]) a fishhead Ha!! Ha!!2004 June 29, Cerberus, “Papers Please!”, in ok.general (Usenet)

Also used as

chink is also the alternative form of kink.

chink is also the alternative letter-case form of Chink.

Examples of chink in a sentence

  • 'Cheers, my dears,' chuckles Dottie, raising a glass and chinking it against ours.
  • Perhaps the chink in Kroenig's argument is his search for germanophobia.
  • Kazak is doing everything to stop the illegaly migration to chink land.

All 22 example sentences with chink

Synonyms of chink

Forms of chink

Noun
pluralchinks
pluralChinks
alternative formchink
Verb
third-person singular presentchinks
present participlechinking
past participlechinked
pastchinked
Adjective
comparativemore Chink
superlativemost Chink

Plural of chink: chinks

Origin of chink

Of uncertain origin, but apparently an extension, with diminutive -k (see more at -ock), of Middle English chine (or, if already suffixed in Middle English, *chinek), from Old English ċine (“a crack, chine, chink”), equivalent to chine + -k.

Onomatopoeic.

There are several possible origins of the term: * From the Chinese courtesy ching-ching, a reduplication of Mandarin 請 /请 (qǐng, “please”). Compare chin-chin, Italian cincin, Portuguese tchim-tchim, tim-tim, Spanish chinchín, French tchin-tchin. * From the alteration of China. * From the alteration of Qing (also spelled Ch'ing). See also Hokkien 親家 /亲家 (chhin-ke, “any relative by marriage (to a Chinese family)”).

Words formed from chink

Phrases with chink

Words that rhyme with chink

35 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about chink

What does chink mean?
Chink means a narrow opening such as a fissure or crack.
What part of speech is chink?
Chink can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce chink?
Chink is pronounced /t͡ʃɪŋk/ (UK).
What is the plural of chink?
The plural of chink is chinks.

Words near chink in the dictionary

  1. Chiniot
  2. Chiniqua
  3. chiniquodontid
  4. chiniquodontids
  5. Chinish
  6. chink
  7. chink cough
  8. chink in the armor
  9. chink in the armour
  10. chink land
  11. chink up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: chink (page history and authors); Chink (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-chink.wav.

Cite this entry: “chink.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chink. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.