The spelling of the word "hinks" may seem odd at first glance. However, it follows a consistent pattern in English language phonetics. The "h" in "hinks" is pronounced as the voiceless glottal fricative sound /h/. The "i" is pronounced as the short vowel sound /ɪ/. The "nk" is pronounced as the consonant cluster /ŋk/, which is made up of the velar nasal sound /ŋ/ and the voiceless velar plosive sound /k/. The final "s" is pronounced as the unvoiced alveolar sibilant sound /s/. Together, these sounds give us the spelling "hinks".