Pinken

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To transition into a shade of light red or to induce a similar hue in another item
2. To undergo a change resulting in a pink tint or to effectuate that tint in a different surface or object
3. To take on or give a pinkish color, often seen when something changes hue towards light red

Etymology: The verb "pinken" is simply "pink" with the suffix "-en" added, the same ending that turns "red" into "redden" or "black" into "blacken." The suffix comes from Old English "-nian," which formed verbs meaning to become or to make something a certain quality. So the word follows a very old English pattern: an adjective plus "-en" yields a verb for becoming that thing or making something that way. The base word "pink" is itself a puzzle. It first appears in English as the name of a flower, the garden pink or "pink" (a carnation-like plant), and only later became the name of the colour. The flower's name may be connected to the verb "to pink," meaning to cut a decorative edge or to pierce, which is why the flower's petals look notched or scalloped. Because the colour is named after the flower, a sentence like "the sunset pinkened" reads backward: the colour came first in the flower, and the verb then grew out of the colour.

Synonyms: redden, blush, flush

Antonyms: pale