minx
Meanings
- A flirtatious, impudent, or pert young woman.
- A promiscuous woman; also, a mistress (“the other woman in an extramarital relationship”) or a prostitute.
- A pet dog.
- Used transitively when followed by it: to behave like a minx, that is, in a flirtatious and impudent manner.
- To make (someone) like a minx; (intransitive) to become like a minx.
- Obsolete spelling of mink (“any of various semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals in the Mustelinae subfamily”).
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
PIE word *ǵʰmṓ The origin of the noun is uncertain. The following possible derivations have been suggested: * A variation of minikin (“(obsolete) young person, especially a young woman; small or insignificant person, thing, or amount”) + a variation of -s (suffix forming hypocoristic nouns (nicknames)) (compare minckins, a variant of minikin). * From Dutch mens, mensch (“human being, person; (derogatory, informal) woman”) (obsolete), Middle Dutch minsc, minsce, minsch; or from German Low German minsch, minsk, Middle Low German minsche (“hussy, wench”), all ultimately from Proto-Germanic *manniskaz (“human”, adjective), from *mann- (“human being, person; man”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ (“earthling”), *men- (“to mind; to think; spiritual activity”), or *mon- (“human being; man”)) + *-iskaz (suffix meaning ‘characteristic of, pertaining to’ forming adjectives). The verb is derived from the noun.