jink

/d͡ʒɪŋk/

jink noun: a quick evasive turn.

Noun

jink (plural jinks)

A quick evasive turn.
A jack or knucklebone used in the game of jinks (possibly derived from the Scottish game high jinks).

Verb

jink (third-person singular simple present jinks, present participle jinking, simple past and past participle jinked)

(intransitive) To make a quick evasive turn or turns to confuse pursuers, incoming fire, etc.
- But faith! he'll turn a corner jinkin, / An' cheat you yet.1786, Robert Burns, “Address to the Devil”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, volume I
- Do not jink. This serves no purpose and will only spoil your run in.1943, G B Warnes, Hints and Tips for Beginners (and others) in Whirlwind Bombers Attacking Shipping, National Archives AIR 27/1551
(transitive) To cause a vehicle to make a quick evasive turn.
- Jink it he did. Norton pushed the aircraft left just as he was at the bottom of his loop.2000, Mack Maloney, Shuttle Down, →ISBN
(intransitive) In the games of spoilfive and forty-five, to win the game by taking all five tricks; also, to attempt to win all five tricks, losing what has been already won if unsuccessful.
To elude; to cheat.
To clink or chink against.
- So they put on a bit of extra pace and were nearly through that section when they heard voices coming out of a clump of bushes and the sound of plates being jinked together.1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 72

jink meaning in Tamil and Urdu

Forms of jink

Noun
plural	jinks
Verb
third-person singular present	jinks
present participle	jinking
past participle	jinked
past	jinked

Origin of jink

Origin uncertain. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests onomatopoeia for motion. Attested since the 18th century. Compare unnasalised dialectal jick (“to avoid with a sudden jerk of the body, elude”).

Words formed from jink

Questions about jink

What does jink mean?: Jink means a quick evasive turn.
What is jink in Tamil?: Jink in Tamil is எதிர்பாராத திடீர் திருப்பம், நழுவல். See Jink meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is jink?: Jink can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce jink?: Jink is pronounced /d͡ʒɪŋk/.
What is the plural of jink?: The plural of jink is jinks.

Words near jink in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: jink (page history and authors); jink (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); jink (Urdu 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: 2026-09-02

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

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