Minch
name, noun, verb ·1 syllable ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A nun. obsolete
- 1 Alternative form of mince. alt-of, alternative, dialectal
- 2 Alternative form of mitch (“play truant from school”). alt-of, alternative
"William Henry opened the gates for them along the return journey, and at the lodge accepted shamefacedly a penny and a promise of the bad end little boys came to who minched from school."
- 1 A strait in Scotland, between the north-west Highlands and the northern Inner Hebrides.
"The best Place for a Staple [of herrings], would be at Stornway, in one of the Lewis Islands, which is a good Harbour, and there are many good Hands; also it lies open to the Minch, a Sea above sixty Miles over to the main Land of Scotland, to the Southward of which lies the Isle of Sky, …"
- 2 A surname.
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"The best Place for a Staple [of herrings], would be at Stornway, in one of the Lewis Islands, which is a good Harbour, and there are many good Hands; also it lies open to the Minch, a Sea above sixty Miles over to the main Land of Scotland, to the Southward of which lies the Isle of Sky, …"
Etymology
Reduced form of Minnish or Minchin.
From Middle English mynche, a reduced form of minchen, monchen, from Old English myneċen (“a female monk, nun”), from Proto-Germanic *munikinnō (“female monk”), from *munikaz (“monk”), from Late Latin monachus (“monk”), from Ancient Greek μοναχός (monakhós, “hermit”, noun), from μοναχός (monakhós, “single, solitary”, adjective), from μόνος (mónos, “alone”), from Proto-Indo-European *men-, *menw-, *manw- (“small, little, isolated”). Cognate with German Mönchin (“female monk”). Related also to minnow. More at monk.
From Middle English menchen, a variant of mincen. More at mince.
Related phrases
More for "minch"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.