Dint
/dɪnt/noun
A forceful blow, impact, or a slight impression made by pressure.
Did you know?Its older sense was a strike or blow, and in the famous phrase “by dint of,” the word survives as a fossil of force and pressure, not magic.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*dint-
“a blow, strike”
Old English
OE
dynt
“a blow, stroke, or sudden impact”
Middle English
ME
dynt
“a blow; force used to achieve something”
Early Modern English
English
dint
“a blow, stroke; in the phrase by dint of, by force of”
Modern English
English
dint
“a slight hollow or impression; chiefly survives in by dint of”
Explore more surprising origins