fink

American  

[fingk] / fɪŋk /

noun

1. a strikebreaker.

2. a labor spy.

3. an informer; stool pigeon.

4. a contemptible or thoroughly unattractive person.

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verb (used without object)

1. to inform to the police; squeal.

2. to act as a strikebreaker; scab.

verb phrase

1. fink out

   1. to withdraw from or refuse to support a project, activity, scheme, etc.; renege.

      He said he'd lend me his motorcycle, but he finked out.

   2. to become untrustworthy.

fink British  

/ fɪŋk /

noun

1. a strikebreaker; blackleg

2. an informer, such as one working for the police; spy

3. an unpleasant, disappointing, or contemptible person

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verb

1. to inform (on someone), as to the police

Usage

What does fink mean? Fink is an insulting name that commonly refers to someone who informs the police or other authorities when others break the law or the rules—an informant or snitch. It can also be used as a verb in the same way that snitch can. In the context of labor unions, fink refers to a strikebreaker—someone who works during the strike (a scab) or finds workers to replace the striking ones. It can also be used as a verb in this sense. As a noun, it can also refer to a person placed by management to spy on union activities. More generally, fink can be used to refer to an overall unpleasant or untrustworthy person. In all of its uses, it is very negative, though not as common as some of its synonyms, like snitch and scab. Fink is used in the similar term ratfink, which refers to a snitch or a despicable person. Example: That fink told the teacher I was going to cut class.

Etymology

Origin of fink

1900–05, compared with German Fink literally, finch, colloquial epithet for an undesirable person, especially an untidy or loose-living one (often in compounds, as Duckfink sycophant, Schmierfink untidy writer); but the transmission of this word to English and the range of meanings of the English word have not been clarified fully

Explanation

A fink is someone who snitches or tattles, like your sister who told your parents that you were the one who ate the last chocolate chip cookie. That fink! Fink is a North American slang term that originally meant "informant" or "strikebreaker" and expanded to be a general pejorative term for a jerk or an unpleasant person. Experts aren't sure about the word's origins, though many suspect it comes from German; Fink means "finch," but it's also used for "frivolous or dissolute person." In any event, you'll know a fink when you see one, because they'll be tattling on you.

Example Sentences

The first has a group of students refusing to name which among them mocked the teacher; the second finds one of them willing to fink.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 27, 2025

When he was asked in one 1965 interview about the hate mail he received after going electric, Dylan described being called a “Sellout, fink, Fascist, Red, everything in the book.”

From Slate • Jul. 28, 2017

Because Epson’s print heads are always connected to the printer, fink can be piped to them from anywhere—a cartridge or a tank on the side of the printer.

From The Wall Street Journal • Aug. 4, 2015

I can't imagine Turner saying to himself: "Ere, I fink I'll paint misself a John Wayne, innit?"

From The Guardian • Apr. 26, 2013

"Who sent this fink into the meeting, brother chairman? Ask him that!" a man demanded.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison