inch

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪntʃ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪntʃ

Etymology 1

From Old English ynce, a borrowing from Latin uncia (“twelfth part”). Doublet of ounce.

Noun

inch (plural inches)

1. A unit of length equal to one twelfth of a foot, or exactly 2.54 centimetres.
2. (meteorology) The amount of water which would cover a surface to the depth of an inch, used as a measurement of rainfall.
3. The amount of an alcoholic beverage which would fill a glass or bottle to the depth of an inch.
4. (figuratively) A very short distance.

   "Don't move an inch!"

   • Shakespeare

     Beldame, I think we watched you at an inch.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• cubic inch
• every inch
• inch-perfect

• in for an inch, in for a mile
• square inch

Translations

unit of length

• Arabic: بُوصَة‏‎ f (būṣa), شِبْر‏‎ m (šibr)
• Armenian: դյույմ (hy) (dyuym)
• Belarusian: дзюйм m (dzjujm), ца́ля f (cálja)
• Breton: meutad (br) m
• Bulgarian: инч m (inč), дюйм (bg) m (djujm)
• Catalan: polzada f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 英寸 (zh) (yīngcùn)

• Czech: palec (cs) m, coul (cs) m
• Danish: tomme (da) c
• Dutch: duim (nl) m
• Esperanto: colo
• Estonian: toll (et)
• Faroese: tummi m
• Finnish: tuuma (fi)
• French: pouce (fr) m
• Galician: pulgada f
• Georgian: დუიმი (duimi)
• German: Zoll (de) n
• Greek: ίντσα (el) f (íntsa)
• Hebrew: אינץ'‏‎
• Hungarian: hüvelyk (hu)
• Icelandic: tomma f, þumlungur m
• Ido: inch (io)
• Irish: orlach (ga) m
• Italian: pollice (it) m
• Japanese: インチ (inchi)

• Korean: 인치 (ko) (inchi)
• Latvian: colla f
• Lithuanian: colis m
• Macedonian: инч m (inč)
• Malay: inci
• Navajo: asdzoh
• Norman: pouce m
• Norwegian: tomme (no) m
• Polish: cal (pl) m
• Portuguese: polegada (pt) f
• Romanian: țol (ro) m
• Russian: дюйм (ru) m (djujm)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: инч m

  Roman: inč (sh) m

• Slovak: palec m, cól m
• Slovene: palec (sl) m
• Spanish: pulgada (es) f
• Swahili: inchi (sw)
• Swedish: tum (sv) c
• Tagalog: dali (tl), timuro
• Tamil: அங்குலம் (ta) (aṅkulam)
• Telugu: అంగుళము (te) (aṃguḷamu)
• Thai: นิ้ว (th) (níu)
• Turkish: inç (tr)
• Ukrainian: дюйм (uk) m (djujm), (rare) цаль (uk) m (calʹ)
• Welsh: modfedd (cy) f

unspecified but very short distance

• Bulgarian: милиметър (bg) m (milimetǎr)
• Catalan: centímetre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 少許 (zh)少许 (zh) (shǎoxǔ), 一點兒 (zh), 一点儿 (zh) (yīdiǎnr)

• Czech: kousek (cs) m, kousíček m
• Dutch: haarbreed (nl) n
• Finnish: piiru (fi)
• French: poil (fr) m

• Galician: palmo m, cuarta m
• German: Zoll (de) n
• Greek: σπιθαμή (el) f (spithamí)
• Lithuanian: plaukas m
• Norwegian: tomme (no) m
• Polish: włos (pl) m
• Portuguese: polegada (pt) f
• Swahili: inchi (sw)

Verb

inch (third-person singular simple present inches, present participle inching, simple past and past participle inched)

1. (intransitive, followed by a preposition) To advance very slowly, or by a small amount (in a particular direction).

   Fearful of falling, he inched along the window ledge.

   • 1957, J. D. Salinger, "Zooey", in, 1961, Franny and Zooey:

     The window blind had been lowered — Zooey had done all his bathtub reading by the light from the three-bulb overhead fixture—but a fraction of morning light inched under the blind and onto the title page of the manuscript.

   • 2012 May 9, John Percy, “Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2-3 on agg): match report”, in the Telegraph^[1]:

     Already guarding a 1-0 lead from the first leg, Blackpool inched further ahead when Stephen Dobbie scored from an acute angle on the stroke of half-time. The game appeared to be completely beyond Birmingham’s reach three minutes into the second period when Matt Phillips reacted quickly to bundle the ball past Colin Doyle and off a post.

2. To drive by inches, or small degrees.
   • Dryden

     He gets too far into the soldier's grace / And inches out my master.

3. To deal out by inches; to give sparingly.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• inch along
• inch forward

• inch up
• inchworm

Translations

to move very slowly

• Finnish: hivuttautua, edetä hitaasti
• German: sich zentimeterweise fortbewegen
• Italian: muoversi poco a poco

• Portuguese: movimentar-se pouco a pouco OR movimentar-se aos poucos
• Swahili: inchi (sw)

See also

• thou
• mil

Etymology 2

From Scottish Gaelic innis

Noun

inch (plural inches)

1. (Scotland) A small island
   • Sir Walter Scott, Rosabelle

     The blackening wave is edged with white; / To inch and rock the sea-mews fly.

Usage notes

• Found especially in the names of small Scottish islands, e.g. Inchcolm, Inchkeith.

Anagrams

• Chin, chin, ichn-