MINCE
What does "MINCE" mean?
To cut food into very small pieces, especially with a knife.
Meanings
- To chop or cut food into very small pieces. Mince the garlic finely before adding it.
- Finely chopped or ground meat (chiefly British). She browned the mince for the shepherd's pie.
- To walk with short, dainty, affected steps. He minced across the polished floor.
- To moderate or soften one's words (usually negative, 'not mince words'). She didn't mince words about the failure. figurative
Did you know?
- The 'mincemeat' in a modern mince pie usually contains no meat at all, but the name is honest history: early mince pies really were stuffed with finely chopped meat mixed with dried fruit and spices.
Word origin
From Old French 'mincier' (to cut into small pieces), from Vulgar Latin 'minutiare', from Latin 'minutia' (smallness), itself from 'minutus' (small) - the same root as 'minute' and 'diminish'.
Remember it
MINCE = make it 'minus' size: both come from Latin for 'small', and to mince is to cut something down toward nothing.
A little poem
The blade comes down and will not pause or wince;
what was a clove of garlic, now is mince.
couplet
Wordplay
- The honest chef refused to mince words - though he was perfectly happy to mince the onions.
What it teaches
Some things you should chop fine; your honest words are not among them.
Quick facts
What does MINCE mean?
To cut food into very small pieces, especially with a knife.
Is MINCE a valid word?
Yes — MINCE is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is MINCE?
MINCE has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does MINCE come from?
From Old French 'mincier' (to cut into small pieces), from Vulgar Latin 'minutiare', from Latin 'minutia' (smallness), itself from 'minutus' (small) - the same root as 'minute' and 'diminish'.
What can MINCE teach us?
Some things you should chop fine; your honest words are not among them.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.