Jinks or jinx?
jinks is an interjection meaning “Indication of surprise or amazement; jinkies”; jinx is a noun meaning “A hex; an evil spell”. Use jinks as an interjection and jinx as a noun (jinx is also an interjection: “Used after the same thing is said by two people…”). They sound the same (/d͡ʒɪŋks/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) jinx is about 5.2 times as common as jinks.
What is the difference between jinks and jinx?
| jinks | jinx | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | interjection, noun, verb | noun, verb, interjection |
| Meaning | Indication of surprise or amazement; jinkies | A hex; an evil spell A person or thing supposed to bring bad luck To cast a spell on |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | none | jinxes |
| Pronunciation | /d͡ʒɪŋks/ | /d͡ʒɪŋks/ |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words | 1.4 times per million words |
Sources: jinks and jinx in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of jinks and jinx
jinks
- 1
Indication of surprise or amazement; jinkies
jinx
- 1
A hex; an evil spell
- 2
To cast a spell on
- 3
Used after the same thing is said by two people simultaneously
- 4
A person or thing supposed to bring bad luck
- 5
To bring bad luck to
- 6
To cause something to happen by mentioning it. Often used sarcastically
- 7
To cause a bad outcome through verbal expression of certainty about a good situation or result. See knocking on wood, which is supposed to mitigate this effect
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, jinks or jinx?
jinks appears about once in every 4 million words; jinx 1.4 times per million words.
jinks about once in every 4 million wordsjinx 1.4 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search jinks vs jinx?
“jinks vs jinx” is searched about 10 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“jinx vs jinks”, “jinks or jinx”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.