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dinky

[ding-kee]
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adjective, dink·i·er, dink·i·est.

Informal. small, unimportant, unimpressive, or shabby: We stayed in a dinky old hotel.
British Informal. fashionable; well dressed; smart.

noun, plural dink·ies.

dinkey.

RELATED WORDS

trim, petite, miniature, dainty, Lilliputian, minor, secondary, mini, bush-league, insignificant, lesser, neat, small-time, minor-league

Nearby words

  1. dink,
  2. dinka,
  3. dinkey,
  4. dinkie,
  5. dinkum,
  6. dinky-di,
  7. dinna,
  8. dinner,
  9. dinner clothes,
  10. dinner dance

Origin of dinky

1780–90; compare Scots dink neatly dressed, trim (of obscure origin); sense shift perhaps: trim > dainty > small > insignificant; see -y1

dinkey

or dink·y

[ding-kee]

noun, plural dink·eys.

a small locomotive, especially with a switch engine.

Origin of dinkey

1840–50; noun use of dinky; see -ey2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for dinky

British Dictionary definitions for dinky

dinky

adjective dinkier or dinkiest informal

British small and neat; dainty
US inconsequential; insignificant

Word Origin for dinky

C18 (in the sense: dainty): from dink
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for dinky

dinky

adj.

1788 "neat, trim, dainty, small," from Scottish dialectal dink "finely dressed, trim" (c.1500), of unknown origin. Modern sense is 1850s.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper