jynx

• (adaptations of the Latin nominative singular, iynx) iynx [in the 19th century], jynx [from the 17th century onwards]
• (adaptations of the Latin stem, iyng-) iyng, jyng [both disused after the 17th century]

An adaptation of the Latin iynx (“wryneck”), itself an adaptation of the Ancient Greek ἴῠγξ (íŭnx, “Eurasian wryneck”, “Jynx torquilla”; figuratively “a spell or charm”, “passionate yearning”), which see for an explanation of the development of its senses.

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɪŋks/
• Homophone: jinx
• Rhymes: -ɪŋks

jynx (plural jynges)

1. A bird, the wryneck, once thought a bird of ill omen (Jynx torquilla).
   • 1649, George Daniel, Trinarchodia: Henry V, line ccxcv:

     Where not a Silver Iyng, or Pigeon, fell To Pay the Markman.

   • 1706, “Jynx”, in John Kersey, editor, Phillips’s New World of Words:

     Jynx, the Wry-neck, or Emmet-hunter, or as some say, the Wag-tail.

   • 1708, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, XXVI, page 123:

     The Jynx or Wryneck…I first heard this year on March 29.

   • 1845, The Zoologist: A Miscellany of Natural History III, page 1,107:

     Its sharp and harsh cry, resembling a repetition of 'Jynx', 'Jynx', 'Jynx'.

   • 1857, Samuel Birch, History of Ancient Pottery, volume I, published 1858, page 297:

     A youth or females hold a bird, supposed to be the iynx, in their hands.

2. (transferred sense) A charm or spell.

   Synonym: jinx

   • ante 1693, Sir Thomas Urquhart (translator), François Rabelais (author), The Third Book of the Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais, chapter i, page 23:

     These are the Philtres, Allurements, Jynges, Inveiglements [les philtres, iynges, et attraictz], Baits, and Enticements of Love.

   • 2015 February 26, “CS106A Practice Midterm 2 Solutions”, in Stanford University‎^[1], page 2:

     You can extend the idea of isograms to sentences that don't repeat any letters. Interestingly, there are several English sentences that use each letter exactly once. They're all pretty weird and either borrow from other languages or use acronyms that were later accepted as English words. For example:
     Veldt jynx grimps waqf zho buck
     As I'm typing this, my word processor is marking each of the above words (save for “buck”) as spelled incorrectly, though I promise they're real words. Honest.

3. One of an order of spiritual intelligences in ancient “Chaldaic” philosophy.
   • 1655, Thomas Stanley, The History of the Chaldaick Philosophy, published 1701, page 17/2:

     Then is the Intelligible Jynx; next which are the Synoches, the Empyreal, the Ætherial and the Material; after the Synoches are the Teletarchs…Intelligent Jynges do themselves also understand from the Father By unspeakable Counsels being moved so as to understand.

• jinx

• jyngine

• NED V (H–K; 1st ed., 1901), § 3 (J), page 646/3, “Jynx”