Meanings
noundinkus (plural dinkuses)
plural dinkuses · alternative dingus
- A small drawing or artwork used for decoration in a magazine or periodical.
- mediaA small ornament, usually a line of three asterisks (* * *), especially for the purpose of breaking up sections of a chapter, article, or other text.
More generally a dinkus is a small ornamentation, usually three asterisks, that break up sections of a book chapter, article or other written text.
2023 January 31, Elisabeth Ribbans, “The perils of using journalist jargon outside the newsroom”, in The Guardian
Origin
From dinky (“tiny and cute”). The word was coined by an artist on the Australian periodical The Bulletin in the 1920s.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
dinkus. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dinkus
MLA
“dinkus.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dinkus. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dinkus,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dinkus.
Source: dinkus on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.