finch

noun

ˈfinch 

: any of numerous passerine songbirds (families Fringillidae, Estrildidae, Emberizidae, and Cardinalidae) having a short stout usually conical bill adapted for crushing seeds

Examples of finch in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Chastain also recommends letting sunflowers and coneflowers go to seed to provide snacks for seed-eaters like finches, juncoes, cardinals, and chickadees. — The Spruce, 5 July 2026

Flowering non-stop summer-through fall in showy combinations of yellow, orange, and red, blanket flower provides a good source of nectar to native bees and butterflies, while the small seeds are eaten by finches. — Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 3 July 2026

This bird feeder is popular with cardinals, finches, and robins, whereas this bug spray alternative is not so popular with mosquitoes. — Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 3 July 2026

McGill’s superbly nuanced calls, runs, and trills elicited commentary from a second audience, perched in the trees above—a colloquium of finches, towhees, titmice, kingbirds, juncos, and Eurasian collared doves. — Alex Ross, New Yorker, 29 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English fynche, fynch, going back to Old English fink, going back to West Germanic *finki-, *finkja-, perhaps going back to an Indo-European echoic noun base *ping-, whence also Greek pínga "nestling" and, with mobile s, Greek spíngon "siskin," Old Norse spiki "tit," Swedish spink "finch" (in regional gulspink "yellowhammer" or "great tit"), dialectal English spink "finch" (perhaps borrowed from Scandinavian)

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing finch

• house finch
• purple finch
• zebra finch

Rhymes for finch

• cinch
• flinch
• inch
• lynch
• pinch
• synch
• winch
• bullfinch
• goldfinch

Kids Definition

finch

noun

ˈfinch 

: any of numerous songbirds (as the sparrows, grosbeaks, crossbills, goldfinches, and buntings) that have a short stout bill adapted for crushing seeds