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This may come as a surprise, but inkling has not a drop to do with ink, whether of squid, tattoo, or any other variety. Originating in English in the early 16th century, inkling comes instead from Middle English yngkiling, meaning “whisper or mention,” and perhaps further back from the verb inclen, meaning “to hint at.” An early sense of the word meant “a faint perceptible sound or undertone” or “rumor,” but now people usually use the word to refer to a vague notion someone has (“had an inkling they would be there”), or to a hint of something present (“a conversation with not even an inkling of anger”). One related word you might not have heard of is the rare verb inkle, a back-formation of inkling that in some British English dialects can mean “to utter or communicate in an undertone or whisper, to hint, give a hint of” or “to have an idea or notion of.” (Inkle is also a noun referring to “a colored linen tape or braid woven on a very narrow loom and used for trimming” but etymologists don’t have an inkling of where that inkle came from.)
Examples of inkling in a Sentence
Tom Rogers and Susan Del Percio, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 May 2025
Yet despair shrouds Vuong’s characters, immigrants and other outsiders for whom the American Dream isn’t an inkling.
—Leigh Haber, Los Angeles Times, 12 May 2025
But the inkling that big things were in store for the now pope even went back decades earlier.
—Bradford Betz, FOXNews.com, 9 May 2025
In the finale, which aired on HBO on Sunday evening, fans see the other Ratliff siblings find self-realization, whether mildly profound (Saxon unearthed his more spiritual side and at least an inkling of a soul) or materialistic (Piper can’t settle for low thread count or non-organic food).
—Seija Rankin, HollywoodReporter, 8 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inkling
Cite this Entry
“Inkling.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inkling. Accessed 6 Jun. 2025.
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