Meaning

noun chiefly trailing poisonous plants with blue flowers

noun commonly cultivated Old World woody herb having large pinkish to red flowers

noun small edible marine snail; steamed in wine or baked

originFrom Middle English [Term?], alteration of *pinewinkle (compare English dialectal pennywinkle), from Old English pīnewincle, compound of Latin pīna (“kind of mussel”), itself from Ancient Greek πίνη (pínē), variant of πίννα (pínna, “mussel”)) and Old English wincel (“corner”) (compare dialectal Danish vinkel (“snail shell”)). More at winch and wink.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0