Old English twinclian "to twinkle, wink," frequentative of twincan "to wink, blink;" related to Middle High German zwinken, German zwinkern, and probably somehow imitative.Related: Twinkled; twinkling. The noun is recorded from 1540s. Phrase in the twinkling of an eye "in a very brief time" is attested from c. 1300.[twinkle etymology, twinkle origin, 英语词源]