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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

dinkus en · NOUN

Etymology

From dinky (“tiny and cute”). The word was coined by an artist on the Australian periodical The Bulletin in the 1920s.

Meanings

  1. A small drawing or artwork used for decoration in a magazine or periodical.
  2. A small ornament, usually a line of three asterisks (* * *), especially for the purpose of breaking up sections of a chapter, article, or other text.
    • More generally a dinkus is a small ornamentation, usually three asterisks, that break up sections of a book chapter, article or other written text. 2023 January 31, Elisabeth Ribbans, “The perils of using journalist jargon outside the newsroom”, in The Guardian:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
dingus alternative lexicographic
dinkuses Number=Plur lexicographic

Coordinates

asterism