Etymology

sink

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Today it means: To descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance. Full definition →

Middle English synken ← Old English sincan ← Proto-West Germanic *sinkwan
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sink · verb, noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*sengʷ-“to fall, sink”
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*sinkwaną
  3. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*sinkwan
  4. Old English · derived fromsincan
  5. Middle English · inherited fromsynken
  6. English todaysink

From Middle English synken, from Old English sincan, from Proto-West Germanic *sinkwan, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sengʷ- (“to fall, sink”). Compare West Frisian sinke, Low German sinken, Dutch zinken, German sinken, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål synke, Swedish sjunka. In the causative sense, it replaced Old English senċan (“make sink”) from Proto-Germanic *sankwijaną.

Sink · proper noun2

  1. German · derived fromZink
  2. Dutch · derived fromZink
  3. Germanic · derived from
  4. English todaySink

From Germanic surname Zink (from Dutch Zink and northern German Zink), from German Zink (“cornetto, trumpet-like instrument”).

Words from the same roots

GermanZink all →

zinc

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.