Etymology

blink

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Today it means: To close and reopen both eyes quickly. Full definition →

Middle English blynken ← Old English *blincan ← Proto-Germanic *blinkaną
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blink · verb, noun1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*blinkaną
  2. Old English · inherited from*blincan
  3. Middle English · inherited fromblynken
  4. English todayblink

From Middle English blynken, blenken, from Old English *blincan (suggested by causative verb blenċan (“to deceive”); > English blench), from Proto-Germanic *blinkaną, a variant of *blīkaną (“to gleam, shine”). Cognate with Dutch blinken (“to glitter, shine”), German blinken (“to flash, blink”), Danish blinke (“to flash, twinkle, wink, blink”), Swedish blinka (“to flash, blink, twinkle, wink, blink”). Related to blank, blick, blike, bleak.

Blink · noun2

From a contraction of the group's name, itself a compound of black + pink, seemingly chosen as a homophone of blink.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.