fink

CEFRC2

/fɪŋk/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A person who informs others about someone’s wrongdoing.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A strikebreaker.

Examples

  • That damn fink is asking for it!

  • Near-synonyms: see Thesaurus:jerk, Thesaurus:idiot

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
1
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. An informer.

  2. A contemptible person.

verb

Extra meaning

  1. To betray a trust; to inform on.

More examples

In context

  • “I move that we determine through a thorough investigation whether the new worker is a fink or no; and if he is a fink, let us discover who heʼs finking for!”

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

He was called a blank when he told the teacher who broke the window.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Unknown; first attested in 1894. A connection to Yiddish as some propose is unlikely. Suggested origins include: * German Fink (“finch; frivolous or dissolute person; informer”) as finches are notoriously chatty birds in groups. If so, then Doublet of finch. Compare canary (“informer”). * Partly from the German theory, a fanciful association by students with the freedom of wild birds as opposed to caged ones. * The slang name pink for Pinkerton agents and their use as strikebreakers in the 1892 Homestead strike. If the term is from the corporate name, then it is of Scots origin, Pinkerton being from a place near Dunbar, which is from an unrecognized first element (possibly ultimately pre-Ce...