Quick closing and opening of one eye, typically as a signal, gesture of intimacy, or sign of complicity. Can also refer to brief moments of sleep, as in 'forty winks.'
From Old English 'wincian' (to close the eyes quickly), related to similar words in Germanic languages. The gesture has been used for secret communication across cultures, with the 'sleep' meaning developing from the idea of eyes briefly closing.
A wink is one of the few gestures that can completely change the meaning of what someone just said - it can turn a serious statement into a joke, an insult into playful teasing, or an innocent comment into something flirtatious. It's like a punctuation mark made with your face!
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