A.Word.A.Day--fink

Wordsmith.org

The magic of words

delanceyplace . com: thinker's daily quote
A carefully selected non-fiction book excerpt free to your email each day.

delanceyplace . com

today's sponsor

Jan 3, 2019

This week’s theme
Words to describe people

This week’s words
fabulist
numpty
rentier
fink

“Lucy Goes on Strike” episode of the TV show Here’s Lucy

Photo: CBS/Wikimedia

Erratum
The author of Tuesday’s A THOUGHT FOR TODAY is Joseph Campbell (not E. M. Forster). [reference]

---

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

fink

PRONUNCIATION:

(fink)

MEANING:

noun:	1. A contemptible person.
	2. An informer.
	3. A strikebreaker.
verb intr.:	1. To inform against someone.
	2. To fail to do something promised.
	3. To stop working.

ETYMOLOGY:

The origin of the term is not certain. One theory suggests it’s named after Pinkerton, a private security company whose agents were hired to break up strikes late in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Another possibility is that it’s from German slang Fink (finch), used by students for other students who were not affiliated with a fraternity (i.e., they were free birds). Earliest documented use: 1903.

USAGE:

“There is also inside the compound walls a fink, or someone who’s had enough, or a conspirator who’s sold out the mayor for far less than 30 pieces of silver.”
Rosie DiManno; Mayor Needs Help to Get Off the Crazy Train; Toronto Star (Canada); Nov 8, 2013.

See more usage examples of fink in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest. -Douglas William Jerrold, playwright and humorist (3 Jan 1803-1857)

Have a comment about today’s word? Post it here.
Or you can email us at words@wordsmith.org

Unsubscribe | Subscribe | Update address | Gift subscription | Contact us

This is a reader-supported newsletter. Become a contributing member today

© 1994-2019 Wordsmith.org