finch

From Middle English fynche, from Old English finċ, 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”).

• IPA^(key): /fɪntʃ/
• Rhymes: -ɪntʃ

finch (plural finches)

1. Any bird of the family Fringillidae, seed-eating passerine birds, native chiefly to the Northern Hemisphere and usually having a conical beak.

• brambling
• canary
• crossbill
• redpoll (Acanthis spp.)
• serin
• siskin

finch (third-person singular simple present finches, present participle finching, simple past and past participle finched)

1. To hunt for finches, to go finching.

• finch at OneLook Dictionary Search
• finch in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

finch

1. Alternative form of fynche