mince
/mɪns/noun, verb
mince is spelled M-I-N-C-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.0 times per million words in written English, the 28,214th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, mince means “Finely chopped meat; minced meat” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mince is minces.
How many letters and syllables are in mince?
| Letters | 5: M-I-N-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.0 times per million words; the 28,214th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is mince?
Mince appears 1.0 times per million words in written English, the 28,214th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce mince?
- US /mɪns/
Mince has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-I_learned_some_phrases-mince.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with mince?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as mince from its last stressed vowel (/ɪns/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of mince
- minces plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- mincing participle, present
- minced participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mince mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Finely chopped meat; minced meat.
Mince tastes really good fried in a pan with some chopped onion and tomato.
- 2
Finely chopped mixed fruit used in Christmas pies; mincemeat.
During Christmas time my dad loves to eat mince pies.
- 3
An affected (often dainty or short and precise) gait.
- 4
An affected manner, especially of speaking; an affectation.
- 5
slangAn eye (from mince pie).
- 6
UKslangSomething worthless; rubbish.
That band's new album is total mince.
verb
- 1
To make less; to make small.
- 2
To lessen; to diminish; to diminish in speaking; to speak of lightly or slightingly; to minimise.
- 3
rareTo effect mincingly.
- 4
To cut into very small pieces; to chop finely.
Butchers often use machines to mince meat.
- 5
archaicTo suppress or weaken the force of.
- 6
To say or utter vaguely (not directly or frankly).
to mince one's words
- 7
To affect; to pronounce affectedly or with an accent.
One may hear some speakers in Oxford mince brother into brover (brëvë); Bath into Baf; both into bof.
- 8
To walk with short steps; to walk in a prim, affected manner.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mince in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | hachis, viande hachée , hacher |
| German | Hackfleisch, Gehacktes, Hack, Hackepeter, Faschiertes , hacken |
| Portuguese | carne moída , picar |
| Spanish | picadillo, carne picada, carne molida , picar, repicar, trizar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does mince come from?
From Middle English mincen, minsen; partly from Old English minsian, ġeminsian (“to make less, make smaller, diminish”), from Proto-West Germanic *minnisōn, from Proto-Germanic *minnisōną (“to make less”); partly from Old French mincer, mincier (“to cut into small pieces”), from mince (“slender, slight, puny”), from Frankish *minsto, *minnisto, superlative of *min, *minn (“small, less”), from Proto-Germanic *minniz (“less”); both from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small, little”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).