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pink

n. C / U
A1 Beginner Oxford US //ˈpɪŋk// UK //pˈɪŋk// pink Archaic Dialect General-service Informal Slang Vulgar

n. a pale red color. You make it by mixing red and white together.

n. a pale red color, varying in hue from a light reddish-purple to a pale reddish-orange.


SIMPLE

She chose a bright shade of pink for the bedroom walls.

CONTEXTUAL

The sky turned a soft shade of pink as the sun began to set over the mountains.

COMPLEX

While the artist used deep reds for the foreground, the distant flowers were rendered in various tints of pink to suggest depth and light.

Synonyms
Etymology 1

Origin uncertain; perhaps from Dutch pinken (“blink”) or the English verb pink from the same source. Perhaps from the notion of the petals being pinked. An earlier word for similar flesh-like colors, mostly displaced by pink, was incarnation.

Etymology 2

Unknown. Some lexicographers suggest comparison to regional German Pinke (“minnow; small salmon”), but this is not widely accepted.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Middle Dutch pincke. Compare French pinque.

Etymology 4

Probably ultimately imitative, or from Dutch pingelen (“to do fine needlework”) or Low German [Term?]; compare Low German pinken (“hit, peck”) and Pinke (“big needle”).

Etymology 5

Onomatopoeic. Compare ping.

Etymology 6

Borrowed from Dutch pinken.

Etymology 7

Unknown. Attested from the late 15th century.

Usage

Uncountable when referring to the color in general; countable when referring to specific shades or varieties.

Idioms3 entries

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