Meanings
plural pintles · alternative pintel
- fashionA pin on the buckle of a belt used to fit into the holes of the belt and hold it at the desired level of tightness.
- nauticalA pin or bolt, usually vertical, which acts as a pivot for a hinge or a rudder.
The train had a searchlight mounted on a pintle on a flat car.
2005, James Meek, The People’s Act of Love, Canongate, published 2006, page 311 more example
Climbing through the hatch and passing aft along the main deck, he heard for himself the suck-suck from the pump well, then the rattle of tiller and creak of pintle as the helmsmen eased her off and brought her on to meet a rising sea.
1923, Charles Boardman Hawes, The Dark Frigate, Chapter 8
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe penis.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*bend-“peg, tip, protruding point, edge”
- Proto-Germanic*pint-“protrusion”
- Proto-West Germanic*pint(i)
- Old Englishpintel“penis”
- Middle Englishpyntel
- Englishpintle
From Middle English pyntel, from Old English pintel (“penis”), from Proto-West Germanic *pint(i), from Proto-Germanic *pint- (“protrusion”), from Proto-Indo-European *bend- (“peg, tip, protruding point, edge”), equivalent to pin + -le. Cognate with North Frisian pint (“male member, penis”), West Frisian pyt (“male member, penis”), Dutch piet (“penis”), German Low German and German Pint (“penis”), West Flemish pint, piet (“tip, spike, penis”), Danish pint, pintel (“penis”), Norwegian dialectal pintol (“penis”), dialectal Swedish pitt (“penis”). More at pin, pen.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch pen, stift
- penpivot for a hinge
- stiftpivot for a hinge
Finnish saranatappi
- saranatappipivot for a hinge
French broche, tige
- brochepivot for a hinge
- tigepivot for a hinge
German Achse, Stift
- Achsepivot for a hinge
- Stiftpivot for a hinge
Japanese 軸棒
- 軸棒 (jikubou)pivot for a hinge
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with pintle
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
pintle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pintle
“pintle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pintle. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pintle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pintle.
Source: pintle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.