inkling

[ingk-ling]

noun

1. a slight suggestion or indication; hint; intimation.

   They hadn't given us an inkling of what was going to happen.

2. a vague idea or notion; slight understanding.

   They didn't have an inkling of how the new invention worked.

inkling

/ ˈɪŋklɪŋ /

noun

1. a slight intimation or suggestion; suspicion

Word History and Origins

Origin of inkling¹

1505–15; obsolete inkle to hint ( Middle English inklen ) + -ing ¹; akin to Old English inca suspicion

Word History and Origins

Origin of inkling¹

C14: probably from inclen to hint at; related to Old English inca

Example Sentences

And because the stock has rallied for so long, even the smallest inkling of a crack in the company story can trigger a selloff.

Read more on Barron's

“I had no inkling,” he would write, “that my life was changing forever.”

Read more on Literature

She was cast as Kim, before a last name was even assigned to the character, and with no inkling for how essential she would become to the story.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

While the judge ruled that the women had indeed organised a procession, they also would "not have any inkling that using that route would be illegal or prohibited".

Read more on BBC

I also had no inkling that just before I turned 72, I would manage to quit for good, my reckoning long overdue.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• hunch 
• indication