Meanings
alternative Tiddledy-Winks · alternative Tiddley Winks · alternative tiddleywinks · alternative tidley winks
- alsoattributivepluralplural onlyA competitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs (each called a tiddlywink or wink) as possible into a container (the pot) by pressing on their edges with a larger disc (a shooter or squidger), causing them to jump up from the surface on which they are placed.
Mantrap—Sinclair Lewis—Harcourt, Brace. The great realist plays an amusing game of tiddlywinks in the north woods.
1926 September, “The Bookman’s Guide to Fiction”, in John Farrar, editor, The Bookman, volume LXIV, number 1, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, page 90, column 13 more examples
Can any of your correspondents inform me what is the derivation of the word "kiddlewink," or "tiddledy winks"? A friend tells me in the Midland Counties it denotes a house where beer is sold without a licence. Lately a game has been introduced here bearing the name of "Tiddledywinks."
[1890 January 18, M. D., “Queries. [Kiddlewink.]”, in Notes and Queries: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, General Readers, etc., volume IX (7th Series), number 212, London: Published […] [b]y John C. Francis, →OCLC, page 48, column 2Recreation rooms were provided for both boys and girl, and the long winter evenings were anything but dreary, for when school was done and work over the children gathered in the brilliantly lit, hot-pipe-heated rooms and played draughts, bagatelle, lotto, or tiddly-winks.
1894 August, Henrietta O[ctavia] Barnett, “The Home or the Barrack for the Children of the State”, in The Contemporary Review, volume LXVI, London: Isbister and Company […], →OCLC, page 246What had been his hypothetical singular solutions? Parlour games (dominos, halma, tiddledywinks, spilikins, cup and ball, nap, spoil five, bezique, twentyfive, beggar my neighbour, draughts, chess or backgammon): […]
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 17: Ithaca]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], page 638Synonyms: winks
- figurativelypluralplural onlyEspecially in the form to play tiddlywinks: a meaningless or unimportant activity.
- pluralplural of tiddlywink
- indicativepresentsingularthird personthird-person singular simple present indicative of tiddlywink
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA competitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs (each called a tiddlywink or wink) as possible into a container (the pot) by pressing on their edges with a larger disc (a shooter or squidger), causing them to jump up from the surface on which they are placed.
Origin
From tiddlywink + -s, possibly from tiddly (“(informal) little, tiny”) + wink (“blinking of one eye”), perhaps borrowed from tiddlywink, etymology 1 (“unlicensed beerhouse or pawnshop; game played using dominoes”, etc.). The game was patented by a British bank clerk, Joseph Assheton Fincher (1863–1900), on 19 October 1889, and the name Tiddledy-Winks trademarked by him the same year. Tiddlywinks is the preferred modern spelling; the earliest known use of this spelling dates from 1894.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans skyfiespel
- skyfiespelcompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Chinese Mandarin 挑圆片
- 挑圆片 (tiāoyuánpiàn)competitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Danish loppespil
- loppespilcompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Dutch vlooienspel
- vlooienspelcompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Esperanto saltodiskoj
- saltodiskojcompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Finnish kirppupeli
- kirppupelicompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
French jeu de puces
- jeu de pucescompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
German Flohhüpfspiel, Flohspiel
- Flohhüpfspielcompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
- Flohspielcompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Hungarian bolha-játék
- bolha-játékcompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Italian gioco delle pulci
- gioco delle pulcicompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Japanese 弾き, 彈き
- 弾きcompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
- 彈き (hajiki)competitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Latvian blusiņu spēle
- blusiņu spēlecompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Norwegian loppe-spel
- loppe-spelcompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Polish pchełki
- pchełkicompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Portuguese jogo da pulga
- jogo da pulgacompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Russian игра́ в бло́шки
- игра́ в бло́шки (igrá v blóški)competitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Slovak blchy
- blchycompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Spanish juego de la pulga, pulga
- juego de la pulgacompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
- pulgacompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
- pulga saltarinacompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Swedish loppspel
- loppspelcompetitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Ukrainian гра в блі́шки
- гра в блі́шки (hra v blíšky)competitive game in which the objective is to flick as many small discs as possible into a container
Cite this entry
tiddlywinks. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tiddlywinks
“tiddlywinks.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tiddlywinks. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tiddlywinks,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tiddlywinks.
Source: tiddlywinks on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.