pink

/pɪŋk/

/pɪŋk/

Other forms: pinks; pinker; pinked; pinking; pinkly; pinkest

Anything pink is colored a shade that's a combination of red and white. Young girls are traditionally dolled up in pink outfits, until they eventually rebel and refuse to wear pink as tweens.

The color pink varies from a soft, pastel shade to a bold, bright one — but they're all a lighter version of red, or red with some white added. Many flowers are pink, and there are even a few known as pinks, or garden pinks. If your doctor tells you you're "in the pink" after your checkup, she means you're very healthy. The word began as the flower name, probably from Dutch, in which pink means "small."

Definitions of pink

1. adjective

   of a light shade of red
   synonyms: pinkish

   chromatic

   being, having, or characterized by hue
2. noun

   a light shade of red
   types:

   pinkness

   the quality of being pink

   carnation

   a pink or reddish-pink color

   rose, rosiness

   a dusty pink color

   purplish pink, solferino

   a pink dye that was discovered in 1859, the year a battle was fought at Solferino

   apricot, peach, salmon pink, yellowish pink

   a shade of pink tinged with yellow

   coral

   a variable color averaging a deep pink

   old rose

   a greyish-pink color

   type of:

   chromatic color, chromatic colour, spectral color, spectral colour

   a color that has hue
3. noun

   any of various flowers of plants of the genus Dianthus cultivated for their fragrant flowers
   synonyms: garden pink

   types:

   Dianthus barbatus, sweet William

   Eurasian pink widely cultivated for its flat-topped dense clusters of varicolored flowers

   Dianthus caryophyllus, carnation, clove pink, gillyflower

   Eurasian plant with pink to purple-red spice-scented usually double flowers; widely cultivated in many varieties and many colors

   Dianthus chinensis, china pink, rainbow pink

   Chinese pink with deeply toothed rose-lilac flowers with a purplish eye; usually raised as an annual

   Dianthus deltoides, maiden pink

   low-growing loosely mat-forming Eurasian pink with a single pale pink flower with a crimson center

   Diangus gratianopolitanus, cheddar pink

   mat-forming perennial of central Europe with large fragrant pink or red flowers

   Dianthus latifolius, button pink

   much-branched pink with flowers in clusters; closely related to sweet William

   Dianthus plumarius, cottage pink, grass pink

   European pink cultivated for its very fragrant pink or rosy flowers

   Dianthus supurbus, fringed pink

   Eurasian perennial pink having fragrant lilac or rose flowers with deeply fringed margins

   Dianthus chinensis heddewigii, Japanese pink

   a flowering variety of China pink distinguished by jagged-edged petals

   type of:

   flower

   a plant cultivated for its blooms or blossoms
4. noun

   a person with mildly leftist political views
   synonyms: pinko

   type of:

   collectivist, left-winger, leftist

   a person who belongs to the political left
5. verb

   make light, repeated taps on a surface
   synonyms: knock, rap, tap

   type of:

   go, sound

   make a certain noise or sound
6. verb

   cut in a zigzag pattern with pinking shears, in sewing
   type of:

   cut

   separate with or as if with an instrument
7. verb

   sound like a car engine that is firing too early
   synonyms: knock, ping

   type of:

   go, sound

   make a certain noise or sound