hinky
/ˈhɪŋki/
hinky adjective: acting suspiciously; strange, unusual; acting in a manner as if having something to hide, or seemingly crooked.
Adjective
hinky (comparative hinkier or more hinky, superlative hinkiest or most hinky)
- Acting suspiciously; strange, unusual; acting in a manner as if having something to hide, or seemingly crooked.
- I thought he might be acting hinky.1970 7 February 1970: Sgt. MacDonald (William Boyett), Re: Adam-12, Log 54 Impersonation (Season 2, Episode 16) referring to Detective Forest (John Hudson)
- There's nothing hinky about this.1990 October 3, Kurt Guntheroth, “Re: Market selling under highest bid?”, in misc.invest (Usenet)
- Suspicious (of something).
- I think they get hinky if everything is shaking around and they can't see much.1993 August 20, Dave Ratcliffe, “Re: Long Trips With Cats”, in rec.pets.cats (Usenet)
- Lots of folks are hinky about removing ANY "safety" feature from a firearm.1995 June 23, Rosco Benson, “Re: HP Browning Mag safety, remove it?”, in rec.guns (Usenet)
- Dishonest; sketchy; shady
- Weird; nonstandard.
- This [call] shouldn’t be hinky – I’ve got a hunch they’re still floating around.1968 Sept 21: Officer Pete Malloy, as written by Jack Webb, intuiting that a citizen’s report of burglars casing the neighborhood is probably legitimate, Adam-12, Season 1, Episode 1 at 9:32...
- So either they've got a *really* hinky space drive, or they're just just plain fat-assed lard-brained idiots with delusions of competence.1995 Feb 1: Gharlane of Eddore, Re: E2 is great SF, rec.arts.sf.tv, http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.tv/msg/b4020dab6031f759?dmode=source&hl=en
- Unreliable; wonky
- Snobbish; haughty
hinky meaning in Tamil
hinky in Tamil
- ஐயத்திற்குரிய
Examples of hinky in a sentence
- In Dean's own words, he was acting "hinky." Ressam's car was eventually searched, and he was arrested.2004 Bruce Schneier qt. Diana Dean, Boston Globe (2004)
- There's something hinky about this whole thing.2006 December 6, Hester Mofet, “Re: Tip in '95 Disappearance of TV Anchor Jodi Huisentruit Doesn't Yield Much”, in alt.true-crime (Usenet):
- “Hey, between you and me, I thought Gomez was hinky from the get go.2014 March 24, Adam Reed, “On the Carpet” (12:20 from the start), in Archer, season 5, episode 9, spoken by Agent Slater (Christian Slater):
- Heck, I'd *much* rather the 68xxx architecture had caught on than Intel, with its hinky memory-handling.1997 March 11, Karen J. Cravens, “Re: WRITERS!”, in rec.games.frp.misc (Usenet):
Forms of hinky
| comparative | hinkier |
|---|---|
| comparative | more hinky |
| superlative | hinkiest |
| superlative | most hinky |
| alternative form | hinkey |
| alternative form | hinkty |
| alternative form | hincty |
Origin of hinky
Possibly from obsolete Scots hink, from Old Norse hinka (“to limp or hobble”), probably not from Old English inca (“doubt; suspicion”). Possibly from hank (“a loop or coil or anything that curbs or restrains”). Possibly from African-American usage: hincty or hinkty.
Words that rhyme with hinky
Questions about hinky
- What does hinky mean?
- Hinky means acting suspiciously; strange, unusual; acting in a manner as if having something to hide, or seemingly crooked.
- What is hinky in Tamil?
- Hinky in Tamil is ஐயத்திற்குரிய. See Hinky meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use hinky in a sentence?
- In Dean's own words, he was acting "hinky." Ressam's car was eventually searched, and he was arrested.
- What part of speech is hinky?
- Hinky is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce hinky?
- Hinky is pronounced /ˈhɪŋki/.
Words near hinky in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hinky (page history and authors); hinky (Tamil Wiktionary) (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: En-us-hinky.oga.
Cite this entry: “hinky.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hinky. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.