tinkle
To make light metallic sounds, rather like a very small bellTo make light metallic sounds, rather like a very small bell.
Recorded UK: Speaker: Vealhurl Recorder: Vealhurl, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
» The wind made the crystals tinkle.
Luornu · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRTranslations
4 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Examples
7 sentencesThe wind made the crystals tinkle.
The wind chimes tinkled in the breeze.
Every now and then, the wind chimes tinkle a melody.
deDas Windspiel erklingt momentweise melodisch. — Yorwba
Meaning
5 senses(intransitive)To make light metallic sounds, rather like a very small bell.
The glasses tinkled together as they were placed on the table.
klingeln, klimpern
бренча́тьbrenčátʹ, звене́тьzvenétʹ, дребезжа́тьdrebezžátʹ
(transitive)To indicate, signal, etc. by tinkling.
The butler tinkled dinner.
(transitive)To cause to tinkle.
More meanings 2
To hear, or resound with, a small, sharp sound.
(informal, intransitive)To urinate.
- make or emit a high sound
Origin
From Middle English tinclen, equivalent to tink + -le (frequentative suffix). Cognate withFrom Middle English tinclen, equivalent to tink + -le (frequentative suffix). Cognate with West Frisian tinkelje (“to tinkle”), Dutch tinkelen (“to tinkle”), German Low German tinkeln (“to flicker, glitter, sparkle”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
tinkles, tinkling, tinkled, tinkledTenses
tinkle · tinkled · will tinkle · have tinkledSynonyms
3 synonymsWord family
8 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.