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

Viburnum species offer berries in hues of red, blue and pink, attracting mockingbirds, robins and catbirds; while American Beautyberry () features bold purple berries loved by cardinals, catbirds and finches. —Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025

And that is not subject to the same kind of constraint as the beak of the finch cracking a nut, or a woodpecker pounding into a tree to get food. —Quanta Magazine, 21 Aug. 2025

Small finches and sparrows, on the other hand, often don’t live long enough to see the age of five. —Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 26 July 2025

Residents can own pet canaries, finches, parakeets, love birds, parrots, softbill birds, fishes for aquaria and nonpoisonous reptiles, though. —Bella Waters, Kansas City Star, 25 July 2025

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