binkie

Meanings

1. 1nouncountableinformalAmerican

   A small rubber or silicone nipple on a plastic shield that a baby sucks on to feel calm.

   Grammar: Countable: a binkie, two binkies. Also spelled binky.

   Patterns

   • suck on a binkie
   • take away the binkie

   The baby fell asleep as soon as she found her binkie.

   We are trying to take the binkie away before his second birthday.

   He dropped his binkie in the car and started to cry.

2. 2nouncountableinformal

   A joyful leap and twist in the air made by a happy rabbit, according to people who keep pet rabbits.

   Grammar: Countable and used mostly by rabbit owners: the rabbit did a binkie.

   Patterns

   • do a binkie

   Our rabbit did a binkie across the living room floor.

   You can tell she is happy when she does a binkie.

   The video shows three bunnies doing binkies in the garden.

Word forms

Common combinations

suck on a binkie

The baby sucked on her binkie in the stroller.

lose the binkie

We lost the binkie at the airport and had a long night.

wean off the binkie

The doctor advised weaning him off the binkie gradually.

pack a binkie

Remember to pack a spare binkie in the diaper bag.

binkie clip

A binkie clip kept it attached to his shirt.

Synonyms and how they differ

pacifier

Pacifier is the standard American term and sounds more neutral than the cute, baby-talk feel of binkie.

dummy

Dummy is the usual British word for the same object and would sound odd to most Americans.

soother

Soother is mainly Canadian and is used the same way, with a gentler tone.

Word family

binky noun

the more common spelling of the same word

pacifier noun

the standard word for the baby's sucking device

binkies noun

plural form

Commonly confused: binkie or bankie?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “binkie”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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