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Chink vs Chine - What's the difference?

chink | chine |

As a noun chink

is (slang|offensive|ethnic slur) refers to a chinese or a person of chinese ethnicity.

As a verb chine is

.

chink

English

Etymology 1

Of uncertain origin; but apparently an extension (with formative (m)) of (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • 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
    • Through one cloudless chink , in a black, stormy sky, / Shines out the dewy morning star.
  • 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 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 fill an opening such as the space between logs in a log house with chinking; to caulk.
    • to chink a wall
  • To crack; to open.
  • To cause to open in cracks or fissures.

    • Etymology 2

    Onomatopoeic.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • 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 leave his chink to better hands

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make a slight sound like that of metal objects touching.
    • The coins were chinking in his pocket.
  • To cause to make a sharp metallic sound, as coins, small pieces of metal, etc., by bringing them into collision with each other.
    • (Alexander Pope)

    Etymology 3

    Noun

    (en noun)

    • chine

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) chyne, from (etyl) eschine.

    Noun

    (wikipedia chine) (en noun)
  • The top of a ridge.
  • The spine of an animal.
  • * Dryden
    • And chine with rising bristles roughly spread.
  • * 1883:
  • A piece of the backbone of an animal, with the adjoining parts, cut for cooking.
  • (nautical) a sharp angle in the cross section of a hull
  • The edge or rim of a cask, etc., formed by the projecting ends of the staves; the chamfered end of a stave.

    • Verb

    (chin)
  • To cut through the backbone of; to cut into chine pieces.
  • To chamfer the ends of a stave and form the chine.
    • (Webster 1913)

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) , from (etyl) cine, (cinu). The Old English term is cognate to Old Saxon kena, and is related to the Old English verb ("to split open, to sprout").

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Southern England) a steep-sided ravine leading from the top of a cliff down to the sea
  • * J. Ingelow
    • The cottage in a chine .
  • * 1988, , Penguin Books (1988), page 169
    • In the odorous stillness of the day I thought of the tracks that threaded Egdon Heath, and of benign, elderly Sandbourne, with its chines and sheltered beach-huts.

    Anagrams

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