Other forms: clanking
To clank is to make a heavy dull metallic sound. Chains clanked, a clanking radiator, clank against the rail.
It is heavier and duller than a clink and less musical than a clang, which is a distinction English makes with three words that differ by one vowel each. Old radiators clank as steam meets cold water. The word is imitative, which is why it needs no further explanation.
1verbclankTo make a heavy dull metallic sound.
“The heavy chains clanked as the prisoners shuffled along the corridor.”
clank is a metallic sound.
Clank imitates the sound. Clink, clang and clunk belong to the same family of noise words.
imitative of the sound.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Sounds & Noises