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pink

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Pink

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Various shades of pink
Pinks: carnation cultivars
Two doors in different shades of pink (left: peach, right: bubblegum)

Origin uncertain; perhaps from Dutch pinken (“blink”) or the English verb pink from the same source.[1] Perhaps from the notion of the petals being pinked.

Noun

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pink (countable and uncountable, plural pinks)

  2. A color reminiscent of pinks, the flowers. [from 17th c.]
    My new dress is a wonderful shade of pink.
    pink:  
    light pink:  
    1. Magenta, the colour evoked by red and blue light when combined.
    2. Pale red.
  3. Any of various flowers of that colour in the genus Dianthus, sometimes called carnations. [from 16th c.]
    This garden in particular has a beautiful bed of pinks.
  4. (dated) A perfect example; excellence, perfection; the embodiment of some quality. [from 16th c.]
    Your hat, madam, is the very pink of fashion.
  5. Hunting pink; scarlet, as worn by hunters. [from 18th c.]
    • 1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin, published 2013, page 23:
      I had taken it for granted that there would be people ‘in pink’, but these enormous confident strangers overwhelmed me with the visible authenticity of their brick-red coats.
    • 1986, Michael J. O'Shea, James Joyce and Heraldry, SUNY, page 69:
      it is interesting to note the curious legend that the pink of the hunting field is not due to any optical advantage but to an entirely different reason.
  6. A huntsman.
    • 1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days:
      The pinks stand about the inn-door lighting cigars and waiting to see us start, while their hacks are led up and down the market-place, on which the inn looks.
  7. (snooker) One of the colour balls used in snooker, coloured pink, with a value of 6 points. [from 19th c.]
    Oh dear, he's left himself snookered behind the pink.
  8. (slang) An unlettered and uncultured, but relatively prosperous, member of the middle classes; compare Babbitt, bourgeoisie.
  9. Alternative form of pinko
    • 1981, Edwin R. Bayley, quoting Ben Hibbs, Joe McCarthy and the Press, page 163:
      My own guess is that there are some pinks in the State Department and in other government departments and agencies, and of course they should be found and ousted; but it seems to me that this can be done without besmirching innocent people and without making such broadside charges that people will lose faith in all government.
  10. (slang) The vagina or vulva.
    • 2020 March 23, Mike Hatch, The Dumb Class: Boomer Junior High, Mike Hatch H&A Publishing, →ISBN, page 78:
      Then Eddie did what he calls, 'Two in the pink, one in the stink.' “I held up my right forefinger and middle finger and said, “Two.” Then I held up my ring finger and said “One. Two in the pussy, one in the ass.”
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adjective

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pink (comparative pinker, superlative pinkest)

  1. Having a colour between red and white; pale red.
  2. Of a fox-hunter's jacket: scarlet.
  3. Having conjunctivitis.
  4. By comparison to red (communist), supportive of socialist ideas but not actually socialist or communist.
    • 1976, Bhalchandra Pundlik Adarkar, The Future of the Constitution: A Critical Analysis:
      The word "socialist" has so many connotations that it can cover almost anything from pink liberalism to red-red communism.
  5. (informal) Relating to women or girls.
    pink-collar
    pink job
  6. (informal) Relating to homosexuals as a group within society.
    the pink economy
    pink pound
    pink dollar
    pink triangle
    • 1991 August 24, Lori Nairne, “Whose Parade Is It, Anyway?”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 6, page 5:
      The lesbian and gay movement must decide whether the Parade is for celebrating how far we've come as we further our struggle for liberation, or whether it is going to be just another profit-making industry, supporting lesbian and gay careerism and becoming part of the Establishment (albeit a pink one!)
Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • → Afrikaans: pienk
  • → Chuukese: pink
  • → Finnish: pinkki
  • → German: pink
  • → Irish: pinc
  • → Japanese: ピンク (pinku)
  • → Korean: 핑크 (pingkeu)
  • → Marshallese: piin̄
  • → Samoan: piniki
  • → Scottish Gaelic: pinc
  • → Southern Ndebele: -pinki
  • → Swahili: -a pinki
  • → Tokelauan: piniki
  • ⇒ Tok Pisin: pinkpela
  • → Welsh: pinc
  • → Xhosa: -pinki
Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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pink (third-person singular simple present pinks, present participle pinking, simple past and past participle pinked)

  1. (intransitive) To become pink in color, to redden.
    • 2014, Teresa Carpenter, Her Boss by Arrangement‎[1], page 136:
      The woman’s pale skin pinked as she shook her head. “No. It’s out of my budget. Come on, Sammy”
  2. (transitive) To turn (something) pink.
    • 1961, Tennessee Williams, The Night of the Iguana‎[2], New Directions Publishing, published 2009, act II, page 46:
      They are all nearly nude, pinked and bronzed by the sun.
    • 1985, Carl Sagan, chapter 3, in Contact, Simon & Schuster, published 1997, page 57:
      The rabbits, still lining the roadside, but now pinked by dawn, craned their necks to follow her departure.
  3. (transitive) To turn (a topaz or other gemstone) pink by the application of heat.
    • 2012, David Federman, Modern Jeweler’s Consumer Guide to Colored Gemstones‎[3], page 227:
      Because heating is relatively easy to perform once one is trained to do it, it can be assumed that any pink topaz from Brazil, the gem’s main modern producer, is colored more by man than nature. […] Relatively few stones from Brazil have this trace element in enough quantity for what dealers call “pinking.”

See also

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Colors/Colours in English (layout · text)
             red          orange              yellow              green              blue (incl.      indigo;
             cyan, teal, turquoise) 		             purple / violet
         pink (including
         magenta) 		         brown      white              gray/grey      black

Etymology 2

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Pinks: common minnows

Unknown. Some lexicographers suggest comparison to regional German Pinke (“minnow; small salmon”), but this is not widely accepted.[2]

Noun

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pink (plural pinks)

  1. (regional) The common minnow, Phoxinus phoxinus. [from 15th c.]
  2. (regional) A young Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, before it becomes a smolt; a parr. [from 17th c.]

Etymology 3

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Borrowed from Middle Dutch pincke. Compare French pinque.

Noun

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pink (plural pinks)

  1. (now obsolete) A narrow boat. [from 15th c.]

Etymology 4

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Probably ultimately imitative,[3] or from Dutch pingelen (“to do fine needlework”) or Low German [Term?]; compare Low German pinken (“hit, peck”) and Pinke (“big needle”).

Verb

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pink (third-person singular simple present pinks, present participle pinking, simple past and past participle pinked)

  1. To decorate a piece of clothing or fabric by adding holes or by scalloping the fringe.
  2. To prick with a sword.
    Synonyms: draw blood, jab, prick; see also Thesaurus:stab
  3. To wound by irony, criticism, or ridicule.
    Synonym: draw blood
Derived terms
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Noun

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pink (plural pinks)

  1. (obsolete) A small hole made by puncturing something, as with a rapier, dagger, or pinking iron.
    1. (obsolete) A small hole or puncture made by a sharp, slender instrument such as a rapier, poniard or dagger, or (by extension) a bullet; a stab.
      • 1601, Weever, Mirr. Mart., C j:
        At a great word she will her poynard draw, Looke for the pincke if once thou giue the lye.
      • 1607, Thomas Middleton, Your Five Gallants, iii 5:
        A freebooter’s pink, sir, three or four inches deep.
      • 1638, “Lady's Trial”, in Ford, III. i:
        The fellow's a shrewd fellow at a pink.
      • 1885 May 13, Pall Mall G., 4/I:
        He is spotted with marks of stabs and revolver 'pinks', and he takes all his wounds quite as matter of course.
    2. (obsolete) A small hole or eyelet punched in a garment for decoration, as with a pinking iron; a scallop.
      • 1512, Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot, IV 215:
        Item,..for iiil* powdringis and pinkis to the sam goune, .xij s
      • 1598, Florio, Tagliuzzi:
        small pinks, cuts or iagges in clothes
      • 1599, Ben Jonson, Cynthia's Rev., volume iv:
        Is this pinke of equall proportion to this cut?
      • c. 1632–1641, Ben Jonson, Magnetick Lady, iii. 4:
        You had rather have / An ulcer in your body than a pink / More in your clothes.

References

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  1. ^ “pink, v.2.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2006.
  2. ^ “pink, n.3.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2006.
  3. ^ “pink”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Etymology 5

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Onomatopoeic.

Verb

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pink (third-person singular simple present pinks, present participle pinking, simple past and past participle pinked)

  1. Of a motor car, to emit a high "pinking" noise, usually as a result of ill-set ignition timing for the fuel used (in a spark ignition engine).
  2. Of a musical instrument, to sound a very high-pitched, short note.
    • 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 590:
      And then the record changed, a piano pinking high a Poulenc-like theme.
Translations
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Etymology 6

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Borrowed from Dutch pinken.

Verb

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pink (third-person singular simple present pinks, present participle pinking, simple past and past participle pinked)

  1. (obsolete) To wink; to blink.
    • 1692, Roger L'Estrange, “A Fox and a Cock”, in Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists‎[4], page 409:
      A Hungry Fox that had got a Cock in his Eye, and could not tell how to come at him ; cast himself at his Length upon the Ground, and there he lay winking and pinking as if he had Sore Eyes.

Adjective

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pink (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) Half-shut; winking.

Etymology 7

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Unknown. Attested from the late 15th century.[1]

Noun

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pink (uncountable)

  1. (historical) Any of various lake pigments or dyes in yellow, yellowish green or brown shades, made with plant coloring and a metallic oxide base.
    • 1816, Pierre François Tingry, The Painter and Varnisher's Guide‎[5], page 245:
      To make Dutch pink, boil the stems of woad in a solution of alum, and then mix the liquor with clay, marl, or chalk, which will become mixed with the colour of the decoction
    • 2008, Nicholas Eastaugh, Valentine Walsh, Tracey Chaplin, Pigment Compendium‎[6], page 156:
      Carlyle (2001) lists from her study of nineteenth century British documentary sources yellow carmine, Dutch pink, English pink and yellow lake in descending order of intensity.

References

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  1. ^ “pink, n.1.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2006.

Anagrams

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Chuukese

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English pink.

Adjective

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pink

  1. pink coloured

Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Of obscure origin. Sometimes compared to Etymology 2 and 3 below in the sense of "something small." Perhaps related to pin or otherwise borrowed from a substrate language with unshifted p-.

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Noun

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pink m (plural pinken, diminutive pinkje n)

  1. pinkie (little finger)

Etymology 2

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Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Unknown.

Noun

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pink m (plural pinken, diminutive pinkje n)

  1. one-year-old calf, a bovine yearling

Etymology 3

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Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

From Middle Dutch pinke, of unkown origin. Connections to Etymology 1 above ("pinkie") in the sense of "elongated object" remain purely hypothetical. Possibly connected with pink eye (literally “half-shut eye”), comparable to the semantics of French oeillet (literally “little eye”).[1] Compare Proto-West Germanic *pinnā.

Noun

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pink m (plural pinken, diminutive pinkje n)

  2. a pink (historic coastal fishing boat with one mast, often landed on beaches)
Derived terms
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References

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  1. ^ “pink”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

See also

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Anagrams

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Estonian

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Etymology

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From Middle Low German benk, most likely influenced by Swedish bänk.

Noun

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pink (genitive pingi, partitive pinki)

  1. bench
    Tšaikovski pink
    the Tchaikovsky bench

Declension

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Declension of pink (ÕS type 22e/riik, k-g gradation)
singular plural
nominative pink pingid
accusative nom.
gen. pingi
genitive pinkide
partitive pinki pinke
pinkisid
illative pinki
pingisse 		pinkidesse
pingesse
inessive pingis pinkides
pinges
elative pingist pinkidest
pingest
allative pingile pinkidele
pingele
adessive pingil pinkidel
pingel
ablative pingilt pinkidelt
pingelt
translative pingiks pinkideks
pingeks
terminative pingini pinkideni
essive pingina pinkidena
abessive pingita pinkideta
comitative pingiga pinkidega

German

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English pink.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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pink (strong nominative masculine singular pinker, comparative (very rare) pinker, superlative (very rare) am pinksten)

  1. coloured in a strong shade of pink
    • 2009, Mark Billingham (English text) and Isabella Bruckmaier (translated from English into German), Das Blut der Opfer. Ein Inspector-Thorne-Roman, Goldmann:
      Die unglaublich langen Beine des Mädchens wurden durch Strümpfe und ein pink Tutu betont.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Usage notes

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  • For paler shades, German does not use pink but rosa.
  • Pink is generally declined like a normal adjective: eine pinke Jacke (“a pink jacket”). Some prescriptive grammars and dictionaries like Duden state that declined forms are colloquial and that pink should be invariable (eine pink Jacke). However, such usage is very rare and would even strike a great deal of native speakers as ungrammatical. See the various corpora at www.dwds.de, which include hundreds of attestations for the declined forms, but at most a handful for invariable use in attributive position.

Declension

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Positive forms of pink
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist pink sie ist pink es ist pink sie sind pink
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative pinker pinke pinkes pinke
genitive pinken pinker pinken pinker
dative pinkem pinker pinkem pinken
accusative pinken pinke pinkes pinke
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der pinke die pinke das pinke die pinken
genitive des pinken der pinken des pinken der pinken
dative dem pinken der pinken dem pinken den pinken
accusative den pinken die pinke das pinke die pinken
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein pinker eine pinke ein pinkes (keine) pinken
genitive eines pinken einer pinken eines pinken (keiner) pinken
dative einem pinken einer pinken einem pinken (keinen) pinken
accusative einen pinken eine pinke ein pinkes (keine) pinken
Comparative forms of pink
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist pinker1 sie ist pinker1 es ist pinker1 sie sind pinker1
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative pinkerer1 pinkere1 pinkeres1 pinkere1
genitive pinkeren1 pinkerer1 pinkeren1 pinkerer1
dative pinkerem1 pinkerer1 pinkerem1 pinkeren1
accusative pinkeren1 pinkere1 pinkeres1 pinkere1
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der pinkere1 die pinkere1 das pinkere1 die pinkeren1
genitive des pinkeren1 der pinkeren1 des pinkeren1 der pinkeren1
dative dem pinkeren1 der pinkeren1 dem pinkeren1 den pinkeren1
accusative den pinkeren1 die pinkere1 das pinkere1 die pinkeren1
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein pinkerer1 eine pinkere1 ein pinkeres1 (keine) pinkeren1
genitive eines pinkeren1 einer pinkeren1 eines pinkeren1 (keiner) pinkeren1
dative einem pinkeren1 einer pinkeren1 einem pinkeren1 (keinen) pinkeren1
accusative einen pinkeren1 eine pinkere1 ein pinkeres1 (keine) pinkeren1

1Very rare.

Superlative forms of pink
number & gender singular plural
masculine feminine neuter
predicative er ist am pinksten1
er ist am pinkesten1 		sie ist am pinksten1
sie ist am pinkesten1 		es ist am pinksten1
es ist am pinkesten1 		sie sind am pinksten1
sie sind am pinkesten1
strong declension
(without article) 		nominative pinkster1
pinkester1 		pinkste1
pinkeste1 		pinkstes1
pinkestes1 		pinkste1
pinkeste1
genitive pinksten1
pinkesten1 		pinkster1
pinkester1 		pinksten1
pinkesten1 		pinkster1
pinkester1
dative pinkstem1
pinkestem1 		pinkster1
pinkester1 		pinkstem1
pinkestem1 		pinksten1
pinkesten1
accusative pinksten1
pinkesten1 		pinkste1
pinkeste1 		pinkstes1
pinkestes1 		pinkste1
pinkeste1
weak declension
(with definite article) 		nominative der pinkste1
der pinkeste1 		die pinkste1
die pinkeste1 		das pinkste1
das pinkeste1 		die pinksten1
die pinkesten1
genitive des pinksten1
des pinkesten1 		der pinksten1
der pinkesten1 		des pinksten1
des pinkesten1 		der pinksten1
der pinkesten1
dative dem pinksten1
dem pinkesten1 		der pinksten1
der pinkesten1 		dem pinksten1
dem pinkesten1 		den pinksten1
den pinkesten1
accusative den pinksten1
den pinkesten1 		die pinkste1
die pinkeste1 		das pinkste1
das pinkeste1 		die pinksten1
die pinkesten1
mixed declension
(with indefinite article) 		nominative ein pinkster1
ein pinkester1 		eine pinkste1
eine pinkeste1 		ein pinkstes1
ein pinkestes1 		(keine) pinksten1
(keine) pinkesten1
genitive eines pinksten1
eines pinkesten1 		einer pinksten1
einer pinkesten1 		eines pinksten1
eines pinkesten1 		(keiner) pinksten1
(keiner) pinkesten1
dative einem pinksten1
einem pinkesten1 		einer pinksten1
einer pinkesten1 		einem pinksten1
einem pinkesten1 		(keinen) pinksten1
(keinen) pinkesten1
accusative einen pinksten1
einen pinkesten1 		eine pinkste1
eine pinkeste1 		ein pinkstes1
ein pinkestes1 		(keine) pinksten1
(keine) pinkesten1

1Very rare.

References

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  • “pink” in Duden online
  • “pink” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Portuguese

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English pink.

Noun

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pink m or f

  1. hot pink (a deep vibrant pink color)

Adjective

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pink m or f

  1. hot pink (having a deep vibrant pink color)

Swedish

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Etymology

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See the verb pinka (“to pee”)

Noun

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pink n (uncountable)

  1. (slang) pee

Declension

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Declension of pink
nominative genitive
singular indefinite pink pinks
definite pinket pinkets
plural indefinite — —
definite — —

See also

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Anagrams

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