/ fɪŋk; NAmE / noun
( informal , especially NAmE ) an unpleasant person
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WORD ORIGIN
late 19th cent.: of unknown origin; perhaps from German , literally finch, but also a pejorative term. Students started to refer to non-members of fraternities as finks , probably by association with the freedom of wild birds as opposed to caged ones. The term was later generalized to denote those not belonging to organizations such as trade unions.