# minnow

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈmɪnəʊ/ · frequency rank #46,069

## Definitions
1. Any small fish.
2. Any small fish.
3. Any small fish.
4. Any small fish.
5. Any small fish.
6. A person or thing of relatively little consequence, importance, or value.
7. A person or thing of relatively little consequence, importance, or value.
8. An artificial bait in the form of a small fish.

## Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English menew, menowe (“small fish; (specifically) common minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus); or stickleback (possibly the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus)”), 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 (“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”))
* Latin mēna (“small sea-fish”)

## Easily confused with
- **mino** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/minnow-vs-mino)
- **minor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/minnow-vs-minor)
- **Minot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/minnow-vs-minot)
- **Minna** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/minna-vs-minnow)
- **Minnie** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/minnie-vs-minnow)
- **minion** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/minion-vs-minnow)
- **mignon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mignon-vs-minnow)

## Common misspellings (7)
`imnnow`, `minnoww`, `minnwo`, `minonw`, `minow`, `mminnow`, `mninow`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/minnow