A small or insignificant thing; in sports, a softly hit ball that lands close to the net.
Origin uncertain, possibly from Dutch or imitative of a light sound. In tennis and pickleball, it refers to a gentle shot, likely onomatopoetic.
The tennis meaning of 'dink' shows how sports create their own mini-languages—players needed a word for that delicate, frustrating soft shot, so 'dink' captured both the sound and the psychology of the stroke.
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