# mitch

> English word · Verb · IPA /mɪt͡ʃ/ · frequency rank #8,171

## Definitions
1. To pilfer; filch; steal.
2. To shrink or retire from view; lurk out of sight; skulk.
3. To be absent from (school) without a valid excuse; to play truant, to skive off.
4. To grumble secretly.
5. To pretend poverty.

## Etymology
From Middle English mychen, müchen (“to rob, steal, pilfer”), from Old English *myċċan (“to steal”), from Proto-West Germanic *mukkjan, from Proto-Germanic *mukjaną (“to waylay, ambush, hide, rob”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mūg-, *(s)mewg- (“swindler, thief”). Cognate with Scots mich, myche (“to steal”), Saterland Frisian mogeln (“to act secretively and deceitfully”), Dutch mokkelen (“to flatter”), Alemannic German mauchen (“to nibble secretively”), German mogeln (“to cheat”), German meucheln (“to assassinate”), Norwegian i mugg (“in secret, secretly”), Latin muger (“cheater”). Related to mooch.

## Easily confused with
- **much** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mitch-vs-much)
- **myth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mitch-vs-myth)
- **moth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mitch-vs-moth)
- **mitt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mitch-vs-mitt)
- **mite** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mitch-vs-mite)
- **munch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mitch-vs-munch)
- **mulch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mitch-vs-mulch)
- **mitra** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mitch-vs-mitra)
- **mitre** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mitch-vs-mitre)
- **Mitchel** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mitch-vs-mitchel)
- **mic** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mic-vs-mitch)
- **mit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mit-vs-mitch)
- **math** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/math-vs-mitch)
- **mice** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mice-vs-mitch)
- **mick** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mick-vs-mitch)
- **meth** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/meth-vs-mitch)
- **Mach** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mach-vs-mitch)
- **mech** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mech-vs-mitch)
- **mica** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mica-vs-mitch)
- **march** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/march-vs-mitch)

## Common misspellings (8)
`imtch`, `micth`, `mitcch`, `mitchh`, `mithc`, `mittch`, `mmitch`, `mtich`

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