brinkmanship
brink·man·ship/ˈbɹɪŋk.mənˌʃɪp/noun
brinkmanship is spelled B-R-I-N-K-M-A-N-S-H-I-P: 12 letters and 3 syllables (brink·man·ship). It appears about once in every 14 million words in written English, the 114,361st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, brinkmanship means “The pursuit of an advantage by appearing to be willing to take a matter to the brink (for example, by risking a dangerous policy) rather than to…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of brinkmanship is brinkmanships.
How many letters and syllables are in brinkmanship?
| Letters | 12: B-R-I-N-K-M-A-N-S-H-I-P |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: brink·man·ship |
| In writing | about once in every 14 million words; the 114,361st 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 brinkmanship?
Brinkmanship appears about once in every 14 million words in written English, the 114,361st 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 brinkmanship?
- UK /ˈbɹɪŋk.mən.ʃɪp/
- US /ˈbɹɪŋk.mənˌʃɪp/
Brinkmanship has 3 syllables, split brink·man·ship in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-brinkmanship.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of brinkmanship
- brinkmanships plural
- brinksmanship
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does brinkmanship mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The pursuit of an advantage by appearing to be willing to take a matter to the brink (for example, by risking a dangerous policy) rather than to concede a point.
The diplomat accused the other nation's leader of brinkmanship for refusing to redeploy the troops stationed along their nations' shared border.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Brinkmanship in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense pursuit of an advantage by appearing to be willing to take a matter to the brink:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | stratégie du bord de l’abyme |
| German | gewagtes Spiel, Hochrisikopolitik, Spiel mit dem Feuer |
| Portuguese | brinkmanship, diplomacia arriscada, peribelismo |
| Spanish | política del borde del abismo |
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 brinkmanship come from?
From brink (“border, edge”) + -manship (suffix denoting expertise, involvement, or special status in an area).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).