inkling

Pronunciation: /ˈɪŋklɪŋ/

The English word “inkling” has 3 meanings listed here.

noun

Usually preceded by forms of to give: a slight hint, implication, or suggestion given., A vague idea about something.
Often preceded by forms of to get or to have: an imprecise idea or slight knowledge of something; a suspicion.
A desire, an inclination.

Etymology

From Middle English ningkiling, nyngkiling (“hint, slight indication; mention, whisper”), and then either: * possibly a variant of nikking, nyckyng (“hint, slight indication; mention, whisper”), possibly from nikken (“to mark (a text) for correction (?)”) + -ing, -inge (suffix forming gerunds from verbs); or * more likely from the rebracketing of an inklyng as a ninkiling, from Middle English…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.