Etymologically
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pink

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Of the several English words spelled pink, the two common ones are the flower and colour, of unknown origin, and the verb “to pierce, to cut a decorative edge”, which gives pinking shears.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pɪŋk/[4]

pink1 colour

Etymology

Its origin is unknown.[3][1][2] Etymonline suggests it may come from the verb pink “to pierce”, through the notion of scalloped petals, or from Dutch pink “small”, through pinck oogen “half-closed eyes”, borrowed into English in the 1570s and perhaps used for the flower, which sometimes has eye-like dots.[3] Hoad suggests it is short for the obsolete pink eye.[2] The colour is named after the flower, not the other way round.[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The garden plant Dianthus: 1573 in the OED and Barnhart,[6][1] the 1570s in Etymonline.[3]

Semantic evolution

Shakespeare used the flower for the finest example of something in Romeo and Juliet (1592), “I am the very pink of courtesy”, probably punning on the flower of;[1][5] this led to the pink of “the most perfect condition” (1767), as in the phrase the pink of health, and later to in the pink.[1][5] About 1720 the plant's name began to be used for its pale red colour as an adjective,[1][3] and the noun for the colour is by 1733 in Etymonline but not in dictionaries until Webster (1828).[3][1] Before it English used incarnation “flesh colour”.[3] A person seen as mildly left-wing is by 1927, though the image dates to 1837.[3] A pink slip, a notice of dismissal, is by 1915.[3] Several languages similarly took the colour from the rose.[5]

Timeline

  • 1573 – the flower.[6][1]
  • 1592 – the finest example.[1]
  • c. 1720 – adjective, pale red.[1][3]
  • 1733 – noun, the colour.[3]
  • 1767 – the pink of, the best condition.[1]
  • 1915 – pink slip.[3]
  • 1927 – politically left of centre.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A pale red colour.
  2. A plant of the genus Dianthus, such as the carnation, with fragrant flowers.
  3. in the pink: in very good health.

Adjective

  1. Of a pale red colour.
  2. (informal) Mildly left-wing in politics.

Word family

  • pinkish
  • pinkness
  • pinko

pink2 pierce

Etymology

It is Middle English pungen, pynken, of uncertain origin.[3][1] It may be from a possible Old English pyngan and directly from Latin pungere (“to prick, pierce”),[1][3] or from a nasalized form of the Romance stem of French piquer “to prick”.[3] Hoad compares Low German pinken “to strike, peck”.[2] It is related to pungent and puncture.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To pierce or stab: probably before 1200 in Barnhart, in Layamon,[1] about 1200 in Etymonline.[3]

Semantic evolution

To punch holes in is from about 1325.[1] To decorate cloth or leather by cutting holes or a pattern is from 1503,[1][3] and survives mainly in pinking shears (by 1934), which cut a zigzag edge.[3][1] A stab with a rapier was a pink in the 17th century.[6]

Timeline

  • a. 1200 – to pierce.[1]
  • c. 1325 – to punch holes in.[1]
  • 1503 – to cut a decorative pattern.[1]
  • 1934 – pinking shears.[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To cut cloth with a zigzag edge, especially with pinking shears.
  2. To decorate with a pattern of small holes.
  3. To prick or stab lightly with a sword.

Word family

  • pinking shears
  • pinkie
  • pungent
  • puncture

Usage notes

Other words spelled pink are a small sailing vessel (1471), from Middle Dutch pinke,[6][2] a minnow or young salmon, also penk (before 1490),[6] and the British verb for an engine knocking, probably imitative.[7][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins