Making loud, metallic ringing sounds, like chains or metal pieces hitting each other.
From Middle English 'clanken,' likely imitative in origin, similar to 'clang.' The word has been used since the 1300s to describe sharp, metallic sounds. The '-ing' form works as both verb and adjective.
Clanking appears everywhere in fantasy and medieval stories—the sound of armor, chains, and medieval weapons. Writers chose it because the word itself sounds like what knights sounded like when they moved.
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