sink

English

Etymology

From Old English sincan, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sengʷ- (“to fall, sink”). Compare West Frisian sinke, Dutch zinken, German sinken, Danish synke, Swedish sjunka.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA: /sɪŋk/, X-SAMPA: /sINk/

• Audio (UK)

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• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɪŋk
• Homophones: sync, synch

Verb

sink (third-person singular simple present sinks, present participle sinking, simple past sank, past participle sunk or sunken)

1. (ergative) To descend or submerge (or to cause to do so) into a liquid or similar substance.
2. (transitive) To cause a vessel to sink, generally by making it no longer watertight.
3. (transitive) To push (something) into something.
   • The dog sank its teeth into the delivery man's leg.
   • The joint will hold tighter if you sink a wood screw through both boards.
4. (intransitive, figuratively, of the human heart) To experience apprehension, disappointment, dread, or momentary depression.
   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula Chapter 21

     I tried, but I could not wake him. This caused me a great fear, and I looked around terrified. Then indeed, my heart sank within me. Beside the bed, as if he had stepped out of the mist, or rather as if the mist had turned into his figure, for it had entirely disappeared, stood a tall, thin man, all in black.

   • 1915 Burgess, Thronton W., The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, Little, Brown, and Company, Boston; ch. XIX:

     Peter's heart sank. "Don't you think it is dreadful?" he asked.

5. (transitive, snooker, pool, billiards, golf) To pot; hit a ball into a pocket or hole
   • 2008, Edward Keating , The Joy of Ex: A Novel

     She whips me in the first game of pool, I do not even get a shot. Eight-balled from the break.

     “Have you been practising?” I ask my sister.

     “Some,” she says, “play again?”

     “One more.”

     My sister beats me at pool in public a second time. I claim some dignity back by potting two of my balls before Tammy sinks the black.

Synonyms

• (descend into a liquid, etc): descend, go down
• (submerge): dip, dunk, submerge
• (cause (ship, etc) to sink):
• (push (something) into):

Derived terms

• sinker
• sink in
• sink like a stone
• sinking ship
• countersink

Translations

descend into liquid, etc

• Albanian: zhyt (sq)
• Arabic: غرق (ar) (gháriqa)
• Armenian: սուզվել (hy) (suzvel) 
• Basque: hondoratu (eu)
• Catalan: enfonsar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沉 (cmn) (chén), 下沉 (cmn) (xiàchén)

• Czech: potopit se (cs)
• Dutch: zinken (nl)
• Esperanto: droni (eo)
• Estonian: vajuma (et)
• Finnish: upota (fi), vajota (fi)
• French: s'enfoncer (fr)
• German: sinken (de)
• Greek: βυθίζομαι (el) (vythízomai) , βουλιάζω (el) (vouliázo) 
• Hungarian: elsüllyed (hu)
• Icelandic: sökkva (is)
• Italian: affondare (it), (of a ship) sprofondare (it)
• Japanese: 沈む (ja) (しずむ, shizumu)
• Korean: 가라앉다 (ko) (garaanda)

• Norwegian: synke (no)
• Polish: tonąć (pl)
• Portuguese: afundar (pt)
• Romanian: scufunda (ro)
• Russian: тонуть (ru) (tonút’)  impf., утонуть (ru) (utonút’)  pf., опускаться (ru) (opuskát’sja) , погружаться (ru) (pogružát’sja) 
• Scottish Gaelic: sìolaidh (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian: тонути (sh) (tonuti)
• Spanish: hundir (es)
• Swahili: -zamisha (sw)
• Swedish: sjunka (sv)
• Tagalog: lumubog (tl)
• Ukrainian: опускатися (uk) (opuskátysja) , знижуватися (uk) (znýžuvatysja) , падати (uk) (pádaty) , впадати (uk) (vpadáty) , западати (uk) (zapadáty) , of the sun заходити (uk) (zaxodýty) , тонути (uk) (tonúty) , занурюватися (uk) (zanúrjuvatysja) , іти на дно (uk) (itý na dno)  ('go to the bottom'), потупати (uk) (potupáty) , of a foundation осідати (uk) (osidáty) , into the mind запасти (uk) (zapasty) в пам’ять (zapásty v pám”jat’), врізатися (uk) (vrizatysja) в пам’ять (vrizatysja v pám”jat’), weaken or die слабшати (uk) (slabšáty)  гинути (uk) (hýnuty) , into poverty зубожіти (uk) (zubožíty) , have one's spirits sink занепасти (uk) (zanepasty) духом (zanepásty dúxom)

submerge

• Albanian: zhyt (sq)
• Armenian: սուզել (hy) (suzel) 
• Dutch: onderdompelen (nl)
• Finnish: upottaa (fi)
• Greek: βυθίζω (el) (vythízo) 
• Italian: immergere (it)
• Polish: topić (pl), zanurzać (pl)

• Russian: топить (ru) (topít’)  impf., утопить (ru) (utopít’)  pf., погружать (ru) (pogružát’) 
• Scottish Gaelic: sìolaidh (gd)
• Spanish: hundir (es), sumergir (es)
• Ukrainian: топити (uk) (topýty) , a well копати (uk) (kopaty) колодязь (kopáty kolodjáz’) рити (uk) (ryty) колодязь (rýty kolodjáz’), capital невдало покласти (uk) (nevdálo poklásty) 

cause (ship, etc) to sink

• Albanian: fundos (sq)
• Armenian: սուզել (hy) (suzel) 
• Czech: potopit (cs)
• Dutch: zinken (nl)
• Estonian: uputama (et)
• Finnish: upottaa (fi)
• French: couler (fr) m
• Gothic: 𐍃𐌹𐌲𐌵𐌰𐌽 (sigqan)
• Greek: βυθίζω (el) (vythízo) , ποντίζω (el) (pontízo) 
• Icelandic: sökkva (is)

• Italian: affondare (it)
• Japanese: 沈める (ja) (しずめる, shizumeru)
• Latin: mergo (la), -is, mersum, -ere
• Norwegian: senke (no)
• Polish: zatapiać (pl) impf., zatopić (pl) pf.
• Russian: топить (ru) (topít’)  impf., потопить (ru) (potopít’)  pf.
• Spanish: hundir (es)
• Swedish: sänka (sv)
• Ukrainian: затопити (uk) (zatopýty) 

push (something) into

• Albanian: ngul (sq)
• Finnish: upottaa (fi)
• Greek: βυθίζω (el) (vythízo) 

• Icelandic: sökkva (is)
• Ukrainian: всадити (uk) (vsadýty) , вколоти (uk) (vkolóty) 

Noun

Wikipedia

a bathroom sink (basin for holding water)

sink (plural sinks)

1. A basin used for holding water for washing
2. A drain for carrying off wastewater
3. (geology) A sinkhole
4. A depression in land where water collects, with no visible outlet
5. A heat sink
6. A place that absorbs resources or energy
7. (baseball) The motion of a sinker pitch

   Jones' has a two-seamer with heavy sink.

8. (computing, programming) An object or callback that captures events; event sink
9. (graph theory) a destination vertex in a transportation network

Synonyms

• (basin): basin, washbasin

Antonyms

• (destination vertex): source

Translations

basin

• Albanian: lavaman (sq), lajtore (sq)
• Arabic: مجلى (ar) (majlā) f, مغسلة (ar) (máġsala) f
• Catalan: pica (ca) f, lavabo (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 水槽 (cmn) (shuǐcáo), 盥洗盆 (cmn) (guànxǐpén), 洗手盆 (cmn) (xǐshǒupén)

• Czech: dřez (cs) m
• Danish: vask (da)
• Dutch: gootsteen (nl) m, afwasbak (nl) m
• Esperanto: lavujo (eo)
• Estonian: valamu (et), kraanikauss (et)
• Finnish: pesuallas (fi)
• French: évier (fr) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Waschbecken (de) n
• Greek: (kitchen) νεροχύτης (el) (nerochýtis) m , (bathroom) νιπτήρας (el) (niptíras) m 
• Hebrew: כִּיּוֹר (he) (kior) m

• Hungarian: mosdókagyló (hu)
• Icelandic: vaskur (is) m
• Italian: lavandino (it) m, lavello (it), lavello (it) m
• Japanese: シンク (ja) (shinku), 流し (ja) (nagashi)
• Macedonian: мијалник (mk) (míjalnik) m, лавабо (mk) (lavabó) n
• Norwegian: vask (no)
• Polish: zlew (pl) m, zlewozmywak (pl) m
• Portuguese: pia (pt) f
• Romanian: chiuvetă (ro)
• Russian: умывальник (ru) (umyválʹnik) m , раковина (ru) (rákovina) f , мойка (ru) (mójka) f 
• Serbo-Croatian: sudopera (sh) f, lavabo (sh) m
• Spanish: lavamanos (es) m, fregadero (es) m
• Swedish: handfat (sv) n, skål (sv) c, vask (sv) c, ho (sv) c, diskho (sv) c
• Turkish: lavabo (tr)
• Ukrainian: (кухонний) злив (uk) (kuxónnyj zlyv) , раковина (uk) f (rakovyna) (для стікання води) (rákovyna dlja stíkannja vody)
• West Frisian: oanrjocht (fy) c

sinkhole — see sinkhole

heat sink

• Finnish: lämpönielu (fi)
• Greek: ψύκτρα (el) (psýktra) f 

• Swedish: värmesänka (sv) n

destination vertex

• Portuguese: sumidouro (pt) m

Related terms

• countersink
• everything but the kitchen sink

Anagrams

• inks, skin

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Estonian

Noun

sink (genitive singi, partitive sinki)

1. ham

Declension

This Estonian noun needs an inflection-table template.

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Icelandic

Noun

sink

1. zinc (element)

This Icelandic entry was created from the translations listed at zinc. It may be less reliable than other entries, and may be missing parts of speech or additional senses. Please also see sink in the Icelandic Wiktionary. This notice will be removed when the entry is checked. (more information) December 2008

Anagrams

• skin

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Mauritian Creole

Numeral

sink

1. Alternative spelling of senk.

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Norwegian

Noun

sink

1. zinc (element)

This Norwegian entry was created from the translations listed at zinc. It may be less reliable than other entries, and may be missing parts of speech or additional senses. Please also see sink in the Norwegian Wiktionary. This notice will be removed when the entry is checked. (more information) April 2008

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West Frisian

Verb

sink

1. first-person singular present tense of sinke
2. imperative of sinke