finch

Meanings

Noun

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

Verb

• To hunt for finches, to go finching.

Origin

• From Middle English fynch, from Old English finċ, from Proto-Germanic *finkiz (compare Dutch vink, German Fink), from Proto-Indo-European ("chaffinch"). Compare Welsh pinc ("finch"), Ancient Greek σπίγγος ("chaffinch"), Russian пе́нка ("wren"), Sanskrit फिङ्गक ("drongo, shrike").