minnow

English

Rio Grande silvery minnow

Etymology

Wikipedia

Probably from Old English *mynwe (though unattested), cognate with Old High German munewa (German Münne). The word has been influenced in English by Old French menu (“small”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈmɪnəʊ/

  Rhymes: -ɪnəʊ

Noun

minnow (plural minnows)

1. A small freshwater fish of the carp family.
2. More generally, any small fish.
3. (soccer) A low-level team, in comparison to their opponents.
   • 2011 January 29, Chris Bevan, “Torquay 0 - 1 Crawley Town”, BBC:

     Having spent more than £500,000 on players last summer, Crawley can hardly be classed as minnows but they have still punched way above their weight and this kind of performance means no-one will relish pulling them out of the hat in Sunday's draw.

Translations

a small freshwater fish

Czech: střevle (cs) f. Finnish: mutu (fi) French: vairon (fr) German: Elritze f., Bitterfisch m., Maipiere, Pfrille f.

Polish: płotka (pl) f. Russian: гольян (ru) (gol'ján) m. Scots: bandy, baanie

any small fish

Finnish: sintti (fi) French: fretin (fr)

Polish: płotka f.

Verb

minnow (third-person singular simple present minnows, present participle minnowing, simple past and past participle minnowed)

1. (fishing) to fish minnows
2. (fishing) to fish (especially trout) using a minnow as bait

Derived terms

• minnower

Translations

• French: vaironner (fr)