hinky

American  

[hing-kee] / ˈhɪŋ ki /

Or hinkey,

adjective

Slang.

hinkier, hinkiest

1. acting in a nervous or very cautious way.

2. suspicious.

   Whenever he agrees with me, you know something hinky is going on!

3. snobbish; haughty.

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Usage

What does hinky mean? Hinky is a slang term that most often means suspicious or dubious, as in I didn’t open that email because the subject line seemed hinky and it might have been spam.Hinky can be used to describe people’s actions as well as objects. If your sister who never agrees with you suddenly does, you might think her agreement is a little hinky.Hinky also means acting very cautious or nervous, as in Lester was so nervous about the big exam that he was acting all hinky, tapping his pencil against the desk and wriggling in his seat.Hinky can also mean snobbish or haughty, as in Miriam’s hinky way of talking to new students let them know she didn’t think much of them and wasn’t a nice person.Example: This is hinky — why would both of them be in the same place at the same time?

Etymology

Origin of hinky

First recorded in 1920–25; origin unknown

Example Sentences

It’s not that no prosecutor or government attorney has ever made a misstatement unintentionally or even intentionally, but if you were even remotely called out by a judge, if a judge started to say they weren’t buying this or that something seemed kind of hinky to them?

From Slate

It looked hinky, and on the back page, in fine print, I learned that the mail was from a lender unaffiliated with my mortgage company.

From Los Angeles Times

That outcome, you know, it’s a little hinky, but the AP and Fox have done it.

From Slate

So the fraud was largely invisible to Ozy employees, at least until September 2021, when a New York Times column exposed the first whiff of something hinky: a strange voice on the other end of the line during a Goldman Sachs call.

From Salon

And the ultimate pilgrimage: to the ground of the vanished Hinky Dink BBQ stand, the spot on old Route 66 at the border between Pasadena and Eagle Rock.

From Los Angeles Times