skink

• IPA^(key): /skɪŋk/
• Rhymes: -ɪŋk

Possibly from Middle Low German schink, schinke, schenke (“leg; shank; shin bone; ham”), from Proto-Germanic *skinkô (“shank; thigh; that which is bent”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keng- (“to limp; to be crooked, slant”). The word is cognate with Danish skinke (“ham”), Middle Dutch schenke, schinke (“shin; hough; ham”), Icelandic skinka (“ham”), Norwegian skinke (“ham”), Old English gescincio, gescinco (“kidney fat”), Old High German skinka, skinko (“shank; shin bone”) (Middle High German schinke (“shank; shin bone; ham”), modern German Schinken (“ham; pork from the hindquarters”)), Old Saxon skinka (“ham”), Old Swedish skinke (modern Swedish skinka (“ham”)).[1]

skink (plural skinks)

1. (Scotland, Northern England) A shin of beef.

   lean sirloin, skink and pot-roast

2. (chiefly Scotland, obsolete) A soup or pottage made from a boiled shin of beef.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

3. (chiefly Scotland, by extension) Usually preceded by a descriptive word: a soup or pottage made using other ingredients.

   Cullen skink

• Cullen skink

From Middle French scinc, from Latin scincus, from Ancient Greek σκίγγος (skíngos), σκίγκος (skínkos).

A skink among flowers in South Africa

skink (plural skinks)

1. A lizard of the family Scincidae, having small or reduced limbs or none at all and long tails that are regenerated when shed.

From Old English scencan or Old Norse skenkja, from Proto-Germanic *skankijaną. Cognate with German schenken (“to give as a present”), Dutch schenken (“to pour, give as a present”). See also the inherited doublet shink.

skink (third-person singular simple present skinks, present participle skinking, simple past and past participle skinked)

1. (transitive, Scotland) To serve (a drink).
   • Shirley

     Such wine as Ganymede doth skink to Jove.

2. (transitive, Scotland, Northern England, obsolete) To give as a present.

skink

1. (obsolete) A drink.

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language
• The Dictionary of the Scots Language

• kinks