the.com/wink
a tiny rebellion of one eyelid, smuggling a whole secret past the rules
means To briefly close and open one eye as a deliberate signal — of flirtation, complicity, or a joke shared without words.
from From Old English 'wincian,' to close the eyes or blink, sharing deep Germanic roots with Dutch 'winken' and German 'winken' (to wave or beckon) — a family of words about flickering, fluttering gestures. The same root branch gives us 'wince,' that involuntary flinch, hinting that the eye's quick shutting once meant any sudden flicker before it narrowed to one knowing eyelid. The sleep-related sense survives in the phrase 'not a wink,' meaning not even the brief closing of an eye.
- duration
- a wink lasts roughly a tenth of a second
- meaning flip
- signals flirtation, sarcasm, or threat depending on culture
- taboo
- considered rude or aggressive in parts of Asia
- hard skill
- some people physically cannot wink one eye
- emoji legacy
- the ;) predates phones by typewriter decades
operation wink — british military deception plan in north africa, 1941, to make axis forces believe invasion was imminent
wink martinez — mlb pitcher for cincinnati reds, threw no-hitter in 1959