finch

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“
The storm-finch, the bird that resembles dark lightning,

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Definitions (75)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun Any of various relatively small birds of the family Fringillidae, including the goldfinches, sparrows, cardinals, grosbeaks, and canaries, having a short stout bill adapted for cracking seeds.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (72)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • His purple finch is as brilliant as a rose, whereas at its best, this bird is a dull carmine. —  John James Audubon
  • Pryke and a team of researchers investigated sex determination in the two most common morphs of Gouldian finch, red and black. —  The Money Times - finance news, lifestyle, markets, investment, personal finance, banking, retirement planning
  • L. A.-based designer Kelly Lamb's new geo birdhouse is a sleek new abode for any urban wren, finch or warbler. —  Cool Hunting
  • This month I have chosen the Chaffinch (Latin name Fringilla coelebs) The Chaffinch is our commonest finch, The male Chaffinch has red-buff head pink breast and cheeks, blue-grey crown and nape, and chestnut brown back. —  Whitehaven News headlines
  • I'll hope the swallows and swifts return to my garage roof, the sparrows, starlings and a variety of finches including the chaffinch and green-finch, are all about at the moment. —  BlogCymru.com
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English finc.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English finch, fynch, from Anglo-Saxon finc = Dutch vink = Middle Low German vink, vinke = Old High German fincho, Middle High German G. finke, fink = Swedish fink = Danish finke, a finch, = Welsh pinc, a chaffinch. From the Celtic form representing by W. pinc are prob. English dial. and Scots pink, and F. pinson = Spanish pinchon, pinzon = Italian pincione, in Middle Latin pincio(n-). A third English form is spink. q. v. Similar forms appear in Breton pint, tint, Slov. penika, Bohemian penkava, penice, Slovak. pinka, penkava, Russian pienka, hedge-sparrow, warbler (which see), Esthonian wink, etc., finch (the chaffinch being common throughout the whole of Europe), all prob. in imitation of the call-note (which is thought to sound like “fink” or “pink”) of the male chaffinch. The word occurs chiefly with a distinctive epithet: see phrase names below, and the compounds bullfinch, chaffinch, goldfinch, greenfinch, hawfinch, mountain-finch, etc.
 

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/fɪntʃ/
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