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This may come as a surprise, but inkling has not a drop to do with ink, whether of squid, tattoo, or any other variety. Originating in English in the early 16th century, inkling comes instead from Middle English yngkiling, meaning “whisper or mention,” and perhaps further back from the verb inclen, meaning “to hint at.” An early sense of the word meant “a faint perceptible sound or undertone” or “rumor,” but now people usually use the word to refer to a vague notion someone has (“had an inkling they would be there”), or to a hint of something present (“a conversation with not even an inkling of anger”). One related word you might not have heard of is the rare verb inkle, a back-formation of inkling that in some British English dialects can mean “to utter or communicate in an undertone or whisper, to hint, give a hint of” or “to have an idea or notion of.” (Inkle is also a noun referring to “a colored linen tape or braid woven on a very narrow loom and used for trimming” but etymologists don’t have an inkling of where that inkle came from.)
Examples of inkling in a Sentence
Big Think, 29 Jan. 2026
Almost 25 years ago, when the Department of Homeland Security was first proposed, there were inklings, even among supporters, that things might someday come to this.
—Ta-Nehisi Coates, Vanity Fair, 26 Jan. 2026
Bacha remembers getting her first inkling that victory might be possible during a canvassing event, at Grand Army Plaza, in January, 2025.
—Molly Fischer, New Yorker, 21 Jan. 2026
Then Kilmartin defuses any lingering judgmental inklings the audience may retain by warning that many of them will become single parents one day.
—John Roy, Vulture, 13 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for inkling
Cite this Entry
“Inkling.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inkling. Accessed 7 Feb. 2026.
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