Tingo
verb / noun /ˈtɪŋɡəʊ/ — To borrow things from a friend until they have nothing left.
Definition
The act of gradually removing items from a friend's possession by borrowing them, one by one, until the original owner has been quietly and comprehensively depleted.
Beyond the definition
It's polite. It's social. And it's an act of slow-motion appropriation that somehow goes unnoticed until the house is empty. Tingo is a word that makes you suspect you might have done this, or had it done to you.
Origin & history
From Pascuense (the Rapa Nui language of Easter Island). Documented in Adam Jacot de Boinod's 'The Meaning of Tingo' — a celebrated study of untranslatable words.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
She'd been tingoed by her best friend — one book at a time over three years.
He denied the tingo, but she had a list.
There's a fine line between borrowing and tingo — only the lender knows which side you're on.
Synonyms
borrowing, gradual appropriation, friendly pilfering
Antonyms
returning, generosity
Related words
Word in the Wild
See how this word appears in life, language and stories.
Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Fictional scene
Copying and Losing Identity
One adult appears vivid and self-directed, while their partner copies their style, leaving behind their own neglected, colorful artistic interests.
The partner’s gradual loss of their own interests as they copy the other represents a form of metaphorical tingo. They are being depleted of their own possession of self, one interest at a time, until they are quietly and comprehensively depleted by the relationship.
Image credit: Wordspun · AI-generated conceptual illustration