I saw the word "hinky" used recently, an adjective meaning acting suspiciously or nervous or suspicious. I hadn't heard it used before, though it seems like a great word (it was used to describe a politician). The etymology in one dictionary said it was an alteration of hincty, though another said that it was an unknown etymology. Hincty means "conceited or snobbish" and has an "obscure" origin. The relationship between "snobbish" and "suspicious" seems unclear to me.

Have you heard of either of these words?

No, never.

I first heard it used in the film, The Fugitive, which took place in Chicago. I thought it was an Illinois term. I've heard it in the wild and used it a couple of times myself.

hinky-dinky parlez-vous

I've heard it on several occasions, generally meaning "not right, suspect."

I've noticed the slang word 'funky' being used in the sense Asa quotes. Wonder if the similarity in sound is fuzzing the distinction between the two words, or if it's coicidental that one of 'funky's' meanings is similar to 'hinky'?

I've heard "hinky" used, and have used it myself. I generally mean something is off or "not right" as Asa said. I didn't even think it would be in an actual dictionary, as I thought it was slang.

Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang traces it back to 1956. where it meant "nervous" or "jumpy."

In 1967, in Black English, it referred to something "cheap or petty."

Joseph Wambaugh used it in 1975 to indicate someone police thought suspicious.

1987 in 21 Jump Street a character says "He got hinky and we had to subdue him," which gives a meaning of unwilling to comply with orders.

Hinky-dink(y) goes back to 1894 as the nickname of a Chicago alderman: Michael "Hinky-Dink" Kenna. Leave it to Chicago to get involved here.

Was he a hinky-dinky hunky in a honky-tonk, perchance?