brink
/ˈbɹɪŋk/noun
brink is spelled B-R-I-N-K: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,731st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, brink means “The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of brink is brinks.
How many letters and syllables are in brink?
| Letters | 5: B-R-I-N-K |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 3.2 times per million words; the 14,731st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is brink?
Brink appears 3.2 times per million words in written English, the 14,731st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce brink?
- /ˈbɹɪŋk/
- [ˈbɹʷɪŋk]
- /ˈbɹiŋk/
Brink has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-brink.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of brink
- brinks plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does brink mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge.
the brink of a river
- 2
The edge or border.
the brink of success
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Brink in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense edge:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does brink come from?
From Middle English brinke, brenke, from Old Norse *brenka, brekka, from Proto-Germanic *brinkǭ, *brinkaz (“hill, edge (of land)”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰren- (“to project”). Cognate with Dutch brink (“grassland”), regional German Brink, Icelandic brekka (“slope”); also Tocharian B prenke (“island”), Irish braine (“prow”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).