minnow

Etymology

The noun is derived from Late Middle English meneu, menowe (“small fish; (specifically) common minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus); or stickleback (possibly the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus)”), probably from Old English *mynwe, an oblique form of *mynu, a variant of myne (“minnow; small fish”), from Proto-West Germanic *muniwu (“minnow; small fish”), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“small”), possibly influenced by Anglo-Norman menu (“minnow; small”) and Old French menu (“small”), and English minim (“anything very minute; applied to animalcula and the like”). The adjective and verb are derived from the noun. cognates * Middle Low German mone, möne (Dutch meun, West Frisian meun) * Old High German muniwa, munuwa, munewa (modern German Münne (“minnow”))

noun

1. Any small fish.
   1. The common minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus), a small freshwater fish of the carp family Cyprinidae which has a green back with black elongated blotches, commonly swimming in large shoals.
      Most minnows are small fish with cycloid scales, soft rays supporting their fins, and toothless jaws. Some possess barbels on their upper jaw, and many species develop nuptial tubercles during the breeding season. […] Minnows are arguably the most difficult group of freshwater fishes to identify, in part because they are often small and thus the characters distinguishing them are correspondingly small. 2004, Robert G. Werner, “Carps and Minnows: Family Cyprinidae”, in Freshwater Fishes of the Northeastern United States: A Field Guide, Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, page 74
   2. Chiefly with a qualifying word: any of a number of other (small) fish from the family Cyprinidae; also (chiefly US), other small (usually freshwater) fish from other families.
   3. (Australia, New Zealand) Synonym of galaxiid (“any member of the family Galaxiidae of mostly small freshwater fish of the Southern Hemisphere”); specifically, the common galaxias, inanga, or jollytail (Galaxias maculatus).
   4. (Britain, regional) Synonym of stickleback (family Gasterosteidae).
2. (figurative) A person or thing of relatively little consequence, importance, or value.
   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. 29 January 2011, Chris Bevan, “Torquay 0 – 1 Crawley Town”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 2023-04-06
3. (fishing) An artificial bait in the form of a small fish.

adj

1. (rare) Very small; tiny.

verb

1. To fish for minnows (noun sense 1 and subsenses).
2. To fish, especially for trout, using minnows as bait.