ink
pronunciation
How to pronounce ink in British English:
UK [ɪŋk]
How to pronounce ink in American English:
US [ɪŋk]
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- Noun:
- a liquid used for printing or writing or drawing
- dark protective fluid ejected into the water by cuttlefish and other cephalopods
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- Verb:
- append one's signature to
- fill with ink
Word Origin
- ink
- ink: [13] The Greeks had a method of painting which involved applying coloured wax to a surface and then fixing it with heat. The verb describing this process was egkaíein ‘burn in’, a compound of en- ‘in’ and kaíein ‘burn’, whose derivative egkaustikós is the ancestor of the term used for the technique in English – encaustic [17]. Another derivative, égkauston, was applied to the purple ink used by emperors in ancient times for signing documents.As it passed via late Latin encaustum or encautum into Old French enque it gradually lost its imperial associations, and by the time it reached English as enke it was being used for any dark writing fluid.=> caustic
- ink (n.)
- "the black liquor with which men write" [Johnson], mid-13c., from Old French encre, formerly enque "dark writing fluid" (11c.), originally enca, from Late Latin encaustum, from Greek enkauston "purple or red ink," used by the Roman emperors to sign documents, originally a neuter adjective form of enkaustos "burned in," from stem of enkaiein "to burn in," from en- "in" (see en- (1)) + kaiein "to burn" (see caustic). The word is from a Greek method of applying colored wax and fixing it with heat. The Old English word for it was simply blæc, literally "black." The -r- in the Latin word is excrescent. Donkin credits a Greek pronunciation, with the accent at the front of the word, for the French evolution; the same Latin word became inchiostro in Italian, encausto in Spanish. Ink-blot test attested from 1928.
- ink (v.)
- "to mark or stain in ink," 1560s, from ink (n.). Meaning "to cover (a printing plate, etc.) with ink" is from 1727. Related: Inked; inking.
Example
- 1. The name was written again in red ink underneath .
- 2. Save printer ink by using the times new roman or calibri fonts .
- 3. They will prove you spilled ink on yourself . You did it , tate .
- 4. Next week negotiators are only set to ink a minor , non-controversial pact on medical cooperation .
- 5. A book in disappearing ink ?