Etymograph

English

munch

Munch comes from Middle English mynchene ‘a woman who is a member of a monastic order…’, from Old English myneċenu ‘a female monk’, and ultimately from Proto-Hellenic *mónwos.

  1. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*mónwosreconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμόνοςmónos‘alone’
  3. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEμοναχός‘single, solitary’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmonachusas monicus‘monk’
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*munik‘monk’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150munuc‘monk’
  7. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150munecfeminine variant of munuc
  8. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150myneċenu‘a female monk’
  9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500myncheneas monchen‘a woman who is a member of a monastic order and who lives in a cloister’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1996munch

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*mónwosreconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμόνοςmónos‘alone’
  3. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEμοναχός‘single, solitary’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmonachusas monicus‘monk’
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*munik‘monk’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150munuc‘monk’
  7. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150munecfeminine variant of munuc
  8. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150myneċenu‘a female monk’
  9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500myncheneas monchen‘a woman who is a member of a monastic order and who lives in a cloister’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1996munch

Earliest quotation: 1996, peh^ – the prat with the hat, What Is a 'Munch'?: “And thanks to the stunning paxie for getting it…”

The story

From Middle English monchen, a variant of mocchen, mucchen ("to munch (food); chew audibly"; > Modern English dialectal mouch), probably imitative in origin (compare English crunch; German mampfen).

Linked words

through Ancient Greek μόνος ‘alone’

monastery, minster, monolith, monochromatic, monad, monism, 14 more

through Old English munuc ‘monk’

monk, 2 more

Today it means

verb To chew with a grinding, crunching sound, and with the mouth closed.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Hellenic *mónwos / munch

Shirt and support for this word