A hint is an inconspicuous sign or signal that might help to solve a philosophical problem. The German verb winken  , from which the noun   “hint” (Wink) is derived, literally means “to wave” or “to beckon.” Heidegger employs the noun “hint” in the metaphorical sense of a gesture that leads into the right direction. However, the bodily connotation of the word is not   important in his usage. Wink can be translated adequately as “sign” or “hint”; winken as “to hint,” “to give a sign,” or “to beckon.”

Heidegger does not use the word “hint” in the early lecture courses or in Being and Time  . Nevertheless, he refers in Being and Time to two issues that are related to the later concept of the hint, (i) Heidegger distinguishes signs from other things that appear available (zuhanden  ). A sign is not only related to a context, but when we identify a sign “the surrounding world becomes expressly accessible for circumspection” (SZ 82). (2) Heidegger distinguishes between the full phenomenological experience of a matter and the possibility to merely describe it preliminarily. The latter is what he calls “formal   indication” (formale Anzeige, SZ 114). As a sign in general, a hint opens a new perspective on the world. Yet, it only leads the way to understanding a phenomenon, it does not provide the full phenomenological experience. In this regard, a hint has a function similar to formal indication. But unlike formal indication, it is not a methodological step but something that has to be received by the philosopher from outside in order to inspire his work. [CHL  ]

Um Wink é um sinal dado com a mão ou com um objeto, não apenas com a pálpebra de alguém. Esta palavra vem de winken, originalmente "balançar, acenar etc.", e agora "assinalar com a mão etc.". Hölderlin   escreveu: "[…] Desde tempos antigos, os sinais [Winke] têm sido a língua dos deuses" ("Rousseau", IL.39s). O poeta recebe estes sinais e os transmite por meio de suas próprias palavras, que dão sinais para o seu povo. Heidegger encontra um paralelo em Heráclito  : "O autor, cujo oráculo fica em Delfos, não diz nem subtrai nada, assinala [semainei] o retraimento" (GA39  , 127). Um Wink difere de um Zeichen  . Assinalar difere de apontar para algo, chamar atenção para algo. Der Winkende, "alguém que acena", não apenas chama atenção para si mesmo, dando-nos a saber onde está. "Acenar [Winken] adeus é tentar manter a proximidade à medida que a distância aumenta, enquanto que acenar na chegada é revelar distância ainda dominante na alegria da proximidade. Os deuses simplesmente dão sinais, pois eles são" (GA39, 32). [DH  ]