noun
tinker
TIHNG-kuh
noun
1
A traveling mender of pots, pans, and other metal household items.
"The old tinker went from village to village fixing kettles."
"Her grandfather worked as a tinker before the factories took over."
verb
1
To fiddle or experiment with something in an amateur, exploratory way, trying to fix or improve it.
"He spent Sunday afternoon tinkering with the old motorbike."
"Don't tinker with the settings unless you know what you're doing."
How to Use Tinker
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishTo mess about with something mechanical or technical, making small adjustments to try to fix or improve it.
Common mistake
As a noun it can also mean an itinerant mender of pots and pans, or (informally, and now dated/offensive in some uses) a member of the Traveller community — the verb sense ("to tinker with") is by far the most common use today.
Common pairings
tinker with
tinker around
a bit of tinkering
Word Forms
tinkered past tense, tinkers plural, tinkers singular
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The old _____ went from village to village fixing kettles.
Etymology
From Middle English tynkere, likely from tin plus an old suffix used for trades — the same pattern seen in "beekeeper."