English Explanatory Dictionary

finch

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Any Eurasian goldfinch (of species Carduelis carduelis, syn. Fringilla carduelis).
  2. Any bird of the family Fringillidae, seed-eating passerine birds, native chiefly to the Northern Hemisphere and usually having a conical beak.
  3. Any bird of other families of similar appearance to members of family Fringillidae.
  4. A woman.
verb
  1. To hunt for finches, to go finching.
name
  1. A surname transferred from the nickname, from finch as a byname or for a catcher and seller of finches.
  2. A community and former township in North Stormont, United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Ontario, Canada.

Pronunciation

/fɪnt͡ʃ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-finch.wav LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-finch.wav

Word forms

finch finches finching finched

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ping- Proto-Germanic *finkiz Proto-Indo-European *(s)ping- Proto-Germanic *finkô Old English finċ Middle English fynch English finch From Middle English fynch, from Old English finċ, from Proto-West Germanic *finki, from Proto-Germanic *finkiz (compare Dutch vink, German Fink), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pingos (“chaffinch”). Compare Welsh pinc (“finch”), Ancient Greek σπίγγος (spíngos, “chaffinch”), Russian пе́нка (pénka, “wren”), Sanskrit फिङ्गक (phiṅgaka, “drongo, shrike”).

Synonyms

bird

Related words

aberdevine amadavat avadavat brambling canary crossbill euphonia redpoll serin siskin

Derived words

Abert's finch Baltimore finch Bengalese finch blue finch bramble finch brambling finch brushfinch bullfinch canary finch Cassin finch Cassin's finch chaffinch cherry finch citril finch Cocos finch cold-finch copper finch Corsican finch cowfinch crimson-browed finch crimson finch crimson-winged finch cuckoo-finch cut-throat finch Darwin's finch desert finch double-barred finch estrilid finch European finch fallowfinch fallow finch finchbill finchery finchlike firefinch fire finch Galapagos finch goldfinch gold-naped finch golden-naped finch Gough finch Gouldian finch Gould's finch Lady Gouldian finch greenfinch ground finch hawfinch house finch koa finch masked finch melba finch mountain finch oriole finch owl finch painted finch parrotfinch pinefinch Przewalski's finch purple finch rainbow finch
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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