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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
EW.com, 2 Sep. 2025
The Hurricanes had an inkling that something big was going to come from him early.
—Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 2 Sep. 2025
Labor Day is the unofficial wave-off to summer—though not the heat—as kids return back to school, beach days wind down, and the first inklings of a fall breeze begin to blow through the South.
—Abigail Wilt, Southern Living, 25 Aug. 2025
Bovasso had an inkling that something would happen there that afternoon.
—Jim Clash, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inkling
Cite this Entry
“Inkling.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inkling. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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