inkling
n.n. a very small amount of knowledge or a feeling about something. You use this when you have a guess or a slight idea about what might happen.
n. a slight degree of knowledge or a feeling about something; a hint or suspicion. Often used in the phrase 'have an inkling of'.
I have a slight inkling that the meeting will be long.
She had a strong inkling that something was wrong with the engine before the car even started.
While the evidence was circumstantial, the detective had a strong inkling that the suspect was involved in the crime, prompting a more thorough investigation.
From Middle English ningkiling, nyngkiling (“hint, slight indication; mention, whisper”), and then either: * possibly a variant of nikking, nyckyng (“hint, slight indication; mention, whisper”), possibly from nikken (“to mark (a text) for correction (?)”) + -ing, -inge (suffix forming gerunds from verbs); or more likely from the rebracketing of an inklyng as a ninkiling, from Middle English inklen (“to mention (in a low voice); to tell (the truth)”) [and other forms] + -ing, -inge; inklen may be derived from inca, inke (“dread, fear; doubt; danger, risk (?)”), from Old English inca (“doubt, uncertainty; suspicion; fear; cause for complaint, grievance, grudge, ill-will, offence; quarrel; occasion, opportunity”), from Proto-Germanic inkô (“ache; grief; regret”), from Proto-Indo-European h₁eng-, yenǵ- (“illness”). The English word would then be analysable as inkle + -ing. Sense 3 (“desire, inclination”) may have been influenced by incline (“to tend to believe or do something”) or French enclin (“inclined, prone”).
From inkle + -ing.