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Origin and history of clank

clank(v.)

1610s, "cause to make a sharp, hard, metallic sound," perhaps echoic, perhaps suggested by clang (v.) and clink (v.), perhaps from a Low German source (compare Middle Dutch clank, Dutch klank, Old High German klanc, Middle Low German klank, German Klang). Intransitive sense "give out a clank" is from 1650s.

clank(n.)

"a sharp, hard, metallic sound," 1650s, from clank (v.). Reduplicated form clankety-clank attested from 1895.

also from 1650s

Entries linking to clank

clang(v.)

"make a loud, sharp, resonant, metallic sounds," 1570s (intransitive), echoic (originally of trumpets and birds), akin to or from Latin clangere "resound, ring," and Greek klange "sharp sound," from PIE *klang-, nasalized form of root *kleg- "to cry, sound." Transitive sense is by 1850. Related: Clanged; clanging.

clink(v.)

"to ring, jingle, give forth a sharp, metallic sound," early 14c., echoic (compare Dutch klinken, Old High German klingan, German klingen); perhaps a weakened form of clank. Transitive sense, "cause to produce a sharp metallic sound" is from late 14c. Related: Clinked; clinking.

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    Trends of clank

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    clash
    c. 1500, "to make a loud, sharp sound," of imitative origin, or a blend of clap and crash. Compare Dutch kletsen "splash, clash," German klatschen, Danish klaske "clash, knock about." Figurative sense, in reference to non-physical strife or battle, is first attested 1620s. Of thi
    crash
    late 14c., crasschen "break in pieces; make a loud, clattering sound;" probably imitative. Meaning "break into a party, etc." is 1922. Slang meaning "to sleep" dates from 1943; especially from 1965. Of destructive aircraft landings, 1910 (intransitive), 1915 (transitive). Computi
    go
    Old English gan "to advance, walk; depart, go away; happen, take place; conquer; observe, practice, exercise," from West Germanic *gaian (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian gan, Middle Dutch gaen, Dutch gaan, Old High German gan, German gehen), from PIE root *ghē- "to release,
    sound
    "noise, what is heard, sensation produced through the ear," late 13c., soun, from Old French son "sound, musical note, voice," from Latin sonus "sound, a noise," from PIE *swon-o-, from root *swen- "to sound." The unetymological -d was established c. 1350-1550 (see D). Sound-boar
    noise
    c. 1200, "sound of a musical instrument;" mid-13c., "loud speech, outcry, clamor, shouting;" c. 1300, "a sound of any kind from any source," especially a loud and disagreeable sound, from Old French noise "din, disturbance, uproar, brawl" (11c., in modern French only in phrase ch
    endeavor
    early 15c., "pains taken to attain an object," literally "in duty," from phrase put (oneself) in dever "make it one's duty" (a partial translation of Old French mettre en deveir "put in duty"), from Old French dever "duty," from Latin debere "to owe," originally, "keep something
    decimate
    c. 1600, "to select by lot and put to death every tenth man," from Latin decimatus, past participle of decimare "the removal or destruction of one-tenth," from decem "ten" (from PIE root *dekm- "ten"). The killing of one in ten, chosen by lots, from a rebellious city or a mutinou
    fantastic
    late 14c., "existing only in imagination, produced by (mental) fantasy," from Old French fantastique (14c.), from Medieval Latin fantasticus, from Late Latin phantasticus "imaginary," from Greek phantastikos "able to imagine," from phantazein "make visible" (middle voice phantaze
    real
    early 14c., "actually existing, having physical existence (not imaginary);" mid-15c., "relating to things" (especially property), from Old French reel "real, actual," from Late Latin realis "actual," in Medieval Latin "belonging to the thing itself," from Latin res "property, goo
    physiology
    1560s, "study and description of natural objects, natural philosophy" (a sense now obsolete), from French physiologie (16c.) or directly from Latin physiologia "natural science, study of nature," from Greek physiologia "natural science, inquiry into nature," from physios "nature"

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