Etymograph

English

bink

Bink comes from Old English benc ‘bench’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- ‘to bend, curve, arch’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeg-1‘to bend, curve, arch’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bankiz2‘bench’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*banki2‘bench’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150benc2‘bench’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500benk2
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bink2variants of benk
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1684bink2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *bankiz
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English bink
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1684, John Colvil., Mock Poem: “We have it in a manuscript; the good-man keeps…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeg-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *bankiz‘to bend, curve, arch’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*bankizWiktionary, English bink‘bench’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*bankiWiktionary, English bink‘bench’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150bencWiktionary, English bink‘bench’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500benkWiktionary, English bink
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500binkWiktionary, English binkvariants of benk
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1684binkWiktionary, English bink. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1684, John Colvil., Mock Poem: “We have it in a manuscript; the good-man keeps…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- ‘to bend, curve, arch’

back, beach, bitch, baker, batch, baxter, petite, petit, bicker, bichon, 7 more

through Proto-West Germanic *banki ‘bench’

bank, banquet, banco, banque, 3 more

through Old English benc ‘bench’

bench

Today it means

noun A bench.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bink”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Germanic *bankiz. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg- / bink

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