My elderly Mother used a variation on the root word of ‘ChiSai’ 小さい to mean
VERY SMALL or TINY -narrow etc. the word she usd was ‘ chinkie’. This has
NOTHING to do with the commonly accepted racist or derogatory Modern way in
which it is used in English language today.

She was born in 1926 near Kyoto in an area called ‘Anji’ I believe あんじ. I am
looking for anyone who has heard this term being used in a manner/definition
to mean or indicate ‘tiny’ or very small.

I am finding it to be a colloquialism which is not easy to find online in
common dictionaries. Please help me with this as I am seeking anyone else
that’s ever heard this term. Thank you so much for any possible information
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usage
The Meaning or usage of the word ‘chinkie’ to indicate tiny or small in OLD Japanese language. Kyoto area
It's possible that the word your mother used was, or was derived from, the
word ちんけ ( _chinke_ ). This is a 形容動詞【けいようどうし】 or _na_ -adjective.

  * ちんけな店舗【てんぽ】 ( _chinke na tenpo_ , "a tiny shop")

Apparently the "one" on a die was called ち ( _chi_ ) or ちん ( _chin_ ), or
possibly even ちんけ ( _chinke_ ), in gambling circles. The adjective ちんけ (
_chinke_ ) derived from the "one" sense, meaning "tiny, the lowest, the
smallest, insignificant". Apparently it also has (had?) a slang meaning of
"someone who is blind in one eye".

See more in the Daijisen and Daijirin dictionary entries visible
[here](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%A1%E3%82%93%E3%81%91-569915) at the
Kotobank aggregator site, or in the Agatsuma Dialect Dictionary and Jargon
Dictionary entries visible
[here](https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%A1%E3%82%93%E3%81%91) at the
Weblio aggregator site.

### Update

In response to comments added to the question post after I'd written the
above:

>   * She would use it very often to describe anything from small ears to
> small amount of… あなたの耳はとってもチンキですねかわいいOr to describe something that was
> smaller than the normal size of the object like miniature eclairs versus
> regular sized eclairs – Shoga NAGAI
>   * `あなたの耳はとってもチンキですねかわいい` <-- It doesn't seem to be connected with ちんけ,
> then... since ちんけ has a negative/derogative connotation.. – Chocolate
>

As Chocolate notes, the ちんけ term from gambling does have negative overtones,
as befitting a description of a low score in a game where high scores are
good.

ちんき has several possible kanji spellings. None of them mean "small", which is
why I suggested a shift from ちんけ earlier. The poster's ちんき could alternatively
be a sense development from 珍奇【ちんき】 ("queer, odd") or 珍稀【ちんき】 ("rare,
unusual"), perhaps calling out the exceptionally small size of something.
Another (more?) likely possibility is a sense development from 珍貴【ちんき】
("unusual and precious"). Even in English, "precious" is sometimes used to
describe small things.
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answer