Word
twink
US/ˈtwɪŋk/
UK/twˈɪŋk/
Definitions
03correction fluid
n. a white liquid or tape used to cover mistakes in writing.
n. a genericized trademark for correction fluid or correction tape.
“I made a mistake on the form, so I used some twink to cover it up.”
“The student reached into her pencil case for a bottle of twink to fix the error in her handwritten essay.”
Dialect · British English
Usage
Primarily used in New Zealand; functions as both a countable and uncountable noun.
Teaching tip
This is a regionalism specific to New Zealand English, similar to 'White-Out' in the US or 'Tipp-Ex' in the UK.
Synonyms
04to sparkle
v. to shine with a light that changes from bright to faint.
v. to sparkle or twinkle with intermittent light.
“The stars began to twink in the clear night sky above the mountains.”
“As the sun dipped below the horizon, the distant city lights began to twink through the evening haze.”
Literary · Archaic
Teaching tip
This sense is rare in modern speech; 'twinkle' is the standard contemporary choice.
Etymology
From Middle English twinken, twynken, from Old English twincian (“to wink; twinkle”), from Proto-West Germanic twinkōn, from Proto-Germanic twinkōną, an augmented form (with formative -kōną; see English -k) of Proto-Germanic *twint- (“to twinkle”). Cognate with Middle High German zwinken, zwingen, modern German zwinkern (“to wink; twinkle”), Middle Dutch twinc (“a blink”), Middle High German zwinzen, zwinzern (“to blink, blink hard”).
Imitative of the sound.
From twinkie. More at Twink § Etymology on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Genericized trademark of Twink, a brand of correction fluid in New Zealand.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/twink