# wink

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈwɪŋk/ · frequency rank #15,085

## Definitions
1. To close one's eyes in sleep.
2. To close one's eyes.
3. Usually followed by at: to look the other way, to turn a blind eye.
4. To close one's eyes quickly and involuntarily; to blink.
5. To blink with only one eye as a message, signal, or suggestion, usually with an implication of conspiracy. (When transitive, the object may be the eye being winked, or the message being conveyed.)
6. To gleam fitfully or intermittently; to twinkle; to flicker.

## Etymology
From Middle English wynken, from Old English wincian (“to wink, make a sign, close the eyes, blink”, weak verb), from Proto-West Germanic *winkōn (“to close one's eyes”), from Proto-Indo-European *weng- (“to bow, bend, arch, curve”). Cognate with Middle Low German winken (“to blink, wink”), German winken (“to nod, beckon, make a sign”). Related also to Saterland Frisian wäänke, Dutch wenken (“to beckon, motion”), Latin vacillare (“sway”), Lithuanian véngti (“to swerve, avoid”), Albanian vang (“tire, felloe”), Sanskrit वङ्गति (vaṅgati, “(he, she) limps”), French guigner (“to eye, sneak a look at”).

## Easily confused with
- **won** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-won)
- **wit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-wit)
- **wis** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-wis)
- **wiz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-wiz)
- **wok** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-wok)
- **with** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-with)
- **work** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-work)
- **wish** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-wish)
- **wins** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-wins)
- **wise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-wise)
- **wire** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-wire)
- **wont** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-wont)
- **wipe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-wipe)
- **wong** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-wong)
- **wits** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-wits)
- **wynn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-wynn)
- **Winn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-winn)
- **Witt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-witt)
- **wook** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-wook)
- **wisp** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/wink-vs-wisp)

## Common misspellings (6)
`iwnk`, `wikn`, `winkk`, `winnk`, `wnik`, `wwink`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/wink