Etymology
The cut produced by pinking shears may have given its name to (or be derived from) the plant name pink, a flowering plant in the genus Dianthus (commonly called a carnation). The colour pink may have been named after these flowers, although the origins of the name are not definitively known. As the carnation has scalloped, or "pinked", edges to its petals, pinking shears can be thought to produce an edge similar to the flower.
The word "pink" can be used as a verb dating back to 1300 meaning "pierce, stab, make holes in". The French word piquer and Spanish word picar are derived from the Latin pungere meaning "to pierce, prick" and related to "pungent".
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