Chink vs China - What's the difference?
chink | china |
A narrow opening such as a fissure or crack.
*1898 , , (Moonfleet) Chapter 4
*:Yet I did not give way, but settled to wait for the dawn, which must, I knew, be now at hand; for then I thought enough light would come through the chinks of the tomb above to show me how to set to work.
* Macaulay
A chip or dent (in something metallic).
A vulnerability or flaw in a protection system or in any otherwise formidable system, idiomatically derived from the phrase "chink in armor".
* The warrior saw a chink in her enemy's armor, and aimed her spear accordingly.
* The chink in the theory is that the invaders have superior muskets.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=January 30
, author=Kevin Darlng
, title=Arsenal 2 - 1 Huddersfield
, work=BBC
To fill an opening such as the space between logs in a log house with chinking; to caulk.
To crack; to open.
To cause to open in cracks or fissures.
A slight sound as of metal objects touching each other.
Ready money, especially in the form of coins.
*1834 , David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of , Nebraska 1987, pp. 47-8:
*:I thought that if all the hills about there were pure chink , and all belonged to me, I would give them if I could just talk to her when I wanted to
* Somerville
To make a slight sound like that of metal objects touching.
To cause to make a sharp metallic sound, as coins, small pieces of metal, etc., by bringing them into collision with each other.
A country in East Asia, officially named the People's Republic of China ().
A region in East Asia comprising the areas governed by the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan).
The civilization of the Chinese people.
(very rarely) A female given name.
As nouns the difference between chink and china
is that chink is (slang|offensive|ethnic slur) refers to a chinese or a person of chinese ethnicity while china is (uncountable) the root of a climbing plant, smilax china l, once believed to have important medicinal properties or china can be (cockney rhyming slang|countable) mate (ie, friend).chink
English
Etymology 1
Of uncertain origin; but apparently an extension (with formative (m)) of (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- Through one cloudless chink , in a black, stormy sky, / Shines out the dewy morning star.
citation, page= , passage=The first chink in Arsenal's relaxed afternoon occurred when key midfielder Samir Nasri pulled up with a hamstring injury and was replaced. }}
Verb
(en verb)- to chink a wall
Etymology 2
Onomatopoeic.Noun
(en noun)- to leave his chink to better hands
Verb
(en verb)- The coins were chinking in his pocket.
- (Alexander Pope)