inkle

From Middle English inklen, inclen (“to give an inkling of, hint at, mention, utter in an undertone”), derived from inke (“apprehension, misgiving”), from Old English inca (“doubt, suspicion”), from Proto-West Germanic *inkō, from Proto-Germanic *inkô (“ache, regret”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eng- (“illness”). Cognate with Old Frisian jinc (“angered”), Old Norse ekki (“pain, grief”), Norwegian ekkje (“lack, pity”).

inkle (third-person singular simple present inkles, present participle inkling, simple past and past participle inkled)

1. (transitive, rare) To hint at; disclose.
2. (transitive, rare) To have a hint or inkling of; divine.

• See also Thesaurus:allude

• inkling

Apparently from earlier *ingle, perhaps from an incorrect division of lingle, lingel.

• incle

inkle (countable and uncountable, plural inkles)

1. Narrow linen tape, used for trimmings or to make shoelaces
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:

     COSTARD - '… What's the price of this inkle?'

• Elkin, Klein, Klien, Kline, k-line, kline, lekin, liken