skink

¹ American  

[skingk] / skɪŋk /

noun

1. any of numerous lizards of the family Scincidae, common in many regions of the Old and New World, typically having flat, smooth, overlapping scales and comprising terrestrial, arboreal, and fossorial species.

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skink ² American  

[skingk] / skɪŋk /

verb (used with object)

Scot. Dialect.

1. to serve (a beverage).

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skink British  

/ skɪŋk /

noun

1. any lizard of the family Scincidae, commonest in tropical Africa and Asia, having reduced limbs and an elongated body covered with smooth scales

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Etymology

Origin of skink¹

1580–90; < Latin scincus < Greek skínkos lizard

Origin of skink²

1350–1400; Middle English skynken < Middle Dutch schenken, schinken; cognate with Old English scencan, German schenken

Example Sentences

In between times, the occasional Irn-Bru and Cullen skink have been devoured.

From BBC • May 31, 2025

"These skulls had both been previously described as part of a European genus of skink ancestors, but we wanted to investigate that further with 3D data," Meyer said.

From Science Daily • Nov. 29, 2023

A three-year-long imaging study only recently revealed the devotion of Cunningham skink mothers.

From New York Times • Oct. 24, 2022

Gongylomorphus borbonicus — Another Réunion species, in this case a skink not seen since 1839, shortly after the accidental introduction to the island of the lizard-eating Southeast Asian wolf snake.

From Salon • Feb. 10, 2022

“Calpurnia, have you seen my five-lined skink? It should be filed here between the four-lined and the many-lined, naturally, but I seem to have misplaced it.”

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly