fink
Pronunciation: /fɪŋk/
The English word “fink” has 5 meanings listed here.
noun
- A contemptible person.
- An informer.
- A strikebreaker.
- Any of several birds in the family Ploceidae native to southern Africa.
verb
Etymology
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…
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