Meaning

noun plumbing fixture consisting of a water basin fixed to a wall or floor and having a drainpipe

noun (technology) a process that acts to absorb or remove energy or a substance from a system

noun a depression in the ground communicating with a subterranean passage (especially in limestone) and formed by solution or by collapse of a cavern roof

originFrom Middle English synken, from Old English sincan, from Proto-West Germanic *sinkwan, from Proto-Germanic *sinkwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sengʷ- (“to fall, sink”). Compare West Frisian sinke, Low German sinken, Dutch zinken, German sinken, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål synke, Swedish sjunka. In the causative sense, it replaced Old English senċan (“make sink”) from Proto-Germanic *sankwijaną.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0