minx
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /mɪŋks/
homophone: minks
rhymes: -ɪŋks
Forms: form: minxes
Etymology: PIE word
 *ǵʰmṓ
The origin of the noun is uncertain. The following possible derivations have been suggested:
* A variation of minikin (“(obsolete) young person, especially a young woman; small or insignificant person, thing, or amount”) + a variation of -s (suffix forming hypocoristic nouns (nicknames)) (compare minckins, a variant of minikin).
* From Dutch mens, mensch (“human being, person; (derogatory, informal) woman”) (obsolete), Middle Dutch minsc, minsce, minsch; or from German Low German minsch, minsk, Middle Low German minsche (“hussy, wench”), all ultimately from Proto-Germanic *manniskaz (“human”, adjective), from *mann- (“human being, person; man”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ (“earthling”), *men- (“to mind; to think; spiritual activity”), or *mon- (“human being; man”)) + *-iskaz (suffix meaning ‘characteristic of, pertaining to’ forming adjectives).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: In an other corner, Mistris Minx, a marchants wife, that will eate no cherries, forsooth, but when they are at twentie shillings a pound, that lookes as simperingly as if she were besmeard, and iets it as gingerly as if she were dancing the canaries, […]
ref: 1592, Thomas Nash[e], Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Deuill. […], London: […] [John Charlewood for] Richard Ihones, […], →OCLC:
text: How Huſſie! was there ever ſuch a provoking Minx?
ref: 1695, [William] Congreve, Love for Love: A Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene iii, page 20:
text: Miſs Herbert. So good, Mr. gallant, gay Lothario of ſixty-five, a good morning to you. [Exit. Miſs Herbert. / Old Manly. A ſaucy minx.
ref: 1792, Joseph Richardson, The Fugitive: A Comedy. […], London: […] [John] Debrett, […], →OCLC, act IV, scene ii, page 56:
text: Miss Squeers made no more direct reply than surveying her former friend from top to toe, and elevating her nose in the air with ineffable disdain. But some indistinct allusions to a ‘puss,’ and a ‘minx,’ and a ‘contemptible creature,’ escaped her; and this, together with a severe biting of the lips, great difficulty in swallowing, and very frequent comings and goings of breath, seemed to imply that feelings were swelling in Miss Squeers’s bosom too great for utterance.
ref: 1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, “Illustrative of the Convivial Sentiment, that the Best of Friends Must Sometimes Part”, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC, pages 414–415:
text: "Thy own tongue blister the roof of thy mouth!" cried Mrs. Glendinning, in a half-stifled, whispering scream. "'Tis not for thee, hired one, to rail at my son, though he were Lucifer, simmering in Hell! Mend thy manners, minx!"
ref: 1852 July, Herman Melville, “Book XII. Isabel, Mrs. Glendenning, the Portrait, and Lucy.”, in Pierre: Or, The Ambiguities, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, section IV, page 272:
text: Hopkins says she is a dressed-up little minx who runs after all the young men in the parish; but really, from what I see and hear from other persons, I think she is a good girl enough.
ref: 1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], “The Long Vacation Letter-bag”, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], part 2nd, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861, →OCLC, page 105:
text: Others were pert little minxes, and were amusingly condescending to their friends and relatives; but when it came to the feast all the innocent little airs and graces were left aside, and the saucy tapo enjoyed her pig and yams as naturally as the hungriest boy there.
ref: 1895, Marie Fraser, “Tapos and Other ‘Fafines’”, in In Stevenson’s Samoa, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 111:
text: A widow with a child was at a disadvantage with these pretty little minxes, she thought. But in these exciting days her widowhood and her motherhood weighed less heavily upon her than ever before.
ref: 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter XVIII, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC, part IV, page 317:
text: Single, and generally on the make, she was alternatively an angel, a devil and a minx.
ref: 1988, Barbara Delinsky, Commitments, New York, N.Y.; Boston, Mass.: Grand Central Publishing, published October 2012, →ISBN, page 69:
text: As women glide from their twenties to thirties, Shazzer argues, the balance of power subtly shifts. Even the most outrageous minxes lose their nerve, wrestling with the first twinges of existential angst: fears of dying alone and being found three weeks later half-eaten by an Alsatian.
ref: 1996, Helen Fielding, “Wednesday, 4 January”, in Bridget Jones’s Diary, London: Penguin Books, published 1999 (2010 printing), →ISBN:
text: We're quite a powerful group, us wrinkly teenagers, us pre-menopausal minxes.
ref: 1999, Meera Syal, Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee, Black Swan edition, London: Transworld Publishers, published 2015, →ISBN, page 242:
text: Both girls [in Joseph Haydn's Le pescatrici] reveal themselves as minxes.
ref: 2009, Richard Wigmore, “Operas and Dramatic Music”, in The Faber Pocket Guide to Haydn, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 307:
glosses: A flirtatious, impudent, or pert young woman.
examples: text: Well, yet at length the houre came that flattered him with grace, / Who all too haſtie hide him ſelfe to his appointed place. / Arrived there, a pretie minx (directed wel before) / Unto a lodging brought this lord, and locked faſt the dore. / When he was ſafe, awaye ſhe went, for joy Alberto hopt, / But ſee, a chaunge! too late he ſpyde he was in priſon popt. / The windowes made of yron barres, the walles of ſtone and clay, / A bed he found, but farre unfit he thought for Venus play.
ref: 1576, George Whetstone, “The Arbour of Vertue, […]”, in The Rocke of Regard, […], London: […] [H. Middleton] for Robert Waley, →OCLC; republished in J[ohn] P[ayne] Collier, editor, The Rocke of Regard, […] (Illustrations of Early English Poetry; vol. 2, no. 2), London: Privately printed, [1867?], →OCLC, pages 164–165:
text: [W]hat did you meane by that ſame handkercher, you gaue mee euen now? […] this is ſome minxes token, and I muſt take out the worke; there, giue it the hobby horſe, whereſoeuer you had it, I'le take out no worke on't.
ref: c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 65:
text: If thou be abſent long, thy wife then thinkes, / Th'art drunke, at eaſe, or with ſome pretty minkes, / 'Tis well with thee, or elſe beloued of ſome, / Whil'ſt ſhee poore ſoule doth fare full ill at home.
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Causes of Iealousie, Who are Most Apt. […]”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 3, member 1, subsection 2, page 469:
text: They are a couple of alluring wanton Minxes.
ref: 1677 (date written), John Dryden, The Kind Keeper; or, Mr. Limberham: A Comedy: […], London: […] R[ichard] Bentley, and M[ary] Magnes, […], published 1680, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 4:
text: He to his ardent love ſhall win the fair, / From beauty's queen, to her who ſcrubs the ſtair, / From the Kept-miſtreſs, or the Counteſs vain, / Down to the tawdry Minx in Drury Lane.
ref: 1760, J. Copywell [pseudonym; William Woty], “Money. A Fragment of an Intended Parody.”, in The Shrubs of Parnassus. Consisting of a Variety of Poetical Essays, Moral and Comic, London: […] J[ohn] Newbery, […], →OCLC, page 142:
text: For my part, if I understand these sphinxes, / These living riddles called Olympian Gods, / I think they are in love with mortal minxes; / (It would not be the only time by odds;) […]
ref: 1864, England’s Bards, 1864; or, The Three Poems which were Awarded the One Hundred Guineas Offered as Prizes in the Advertisement “Ho! For a Shakespeare!” which Appeared about the Time of Shakespeare’s Tercentenary Anniversary, London: Day and Son, […], →OCLC, section I (Pallas Athené and Venus at Breakfast with Juno, in One of Her Apartments), page 12:
text: There wasn't an Archimandrite of Dane's Island and the townlands nor a minx from the Isle of Woman […] would come next or nigh him, […]
ref: 1939 May 4, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC; republished London: Faber & Faber Limited, 1960, →OCLC, part III, page 496:
text: Tragically forgot to take drying washing down off rack over Aga and a pair of my very large knickers was perilously close to brushing the top of his hair as he came in. […] I quickly swapped them with a pair of ELDEST's teeny-weeny ones, so he thinks he might be marrying into a family of sex minxes who stay that way well into middle age.
ref: 2009, Judith Holder, “January”, in The Secret Diary of a Grumpy Old Woman: AKA A Year in Big Knickers, London: Hachette UK, published 2011, →ISBN:
synonyms: word: bit on the side
word: concubine
word: doxy
word: dulcinea
word: goomah
word: leman
word: loon
word: minx
word: mistress
word: number two
word: side bitch
word: side chick
word: side piece
word: side ting
word: sprunk
word: strumpet
word: wench
word: wifelet
word: NB: All terms are usually pejorative unless stated otherwise.
word: 304
word: alley cat
word: alleycat
word: amorette
word: amoret
word: amorosa
word: article
word: Athanasian wench
word: blowsabella
word: bop
word: chippy
word: cocotte
word: cockslut
word: cockwhore
word: crumpet
word: cum dumpster
word: cum guzzler
word: cumhole
word: cumslut
word: cumwhore
word: Cyprian
word: demimondaine
word: doxy
word: drab
word: eager beaver
word: Essex girl
word: flirt-gill
word: floogy
word: floosie
word: floosy
word: floozie
word: floozy
word: fornicator
word: fornicatour
word: fornicatress
word: fornicatrix
word: fuckstress
word: Fulham virgin
word: geebag
word: giglot
word: gillian
word: gill
word: good-time girl
word: grim
word: grisette
word: harlot
word: ho bag
word: ho-bag
word: hoe bag
word: hoe-bag
word: hoe
word: hoochie mama
word: hoochie
word: hood rat
word: ho
word: hussy
word: jade
word: jay
word: jillflirt
word: lady of light virtue
word: LBFM
word: light-o'-love
word: light-of-love
word: lightskirt
word: little brown fucking machine
word: loose woman
word: lorette
word: mab
word: manizer
word: minx
word: moll
word: mort wap-apace
word: nymphomaniac
word: painted Jezebel
word: puta
word: puzzel
word: quean
word: Quicumque vult
word: quiff
word: rig
word: scag
word: scrubber
word: skank
word: skettle
word: sket
word: skit
word: slag
word: slapper
word: slattern
word: sloven
word: slutbag
word: slut
word: stale
word: streel
word: strumpet
word: sweet cheeks
word: tartlet
word: tart
word: thotty
word: thot
word: town bicycle
word: town bike
word: tramp
word: treddle
word: trollop
word: trull
word: village bicycle
word: village bike
word: wagon
word: waistcoateer
word: wanton
word: wench
word: whore
word: abandons
word: alley cat
word: almah
word: bangtail
word: Bankside lady
word: bargirl
word: bat
word: beotch
word: blouze
word: blowen
word: blowsabella
word: brass nail
word: brasser
word: brass
word: broad
word: business girl
word: calico queen
word: callet
word: cat
word: chippy
word: chromo
word: coaster
word: cockatrice
word: cocotte
word: comfort girl
word: comfort woman
word: commoner
word: Covent Garden nun
word: creature of the night
word: croshabell
word: daughter of joy
word: dollymop
word: doxy
word: drab
word: Dutch widow
word: escort
word: fille de joie
word: flap
word: floozie
word: fornicatrix
word: frail sister
word: Fulham virgin
word: gamester
word: gay lady
word: geebag
word: gillian
word: gill
word: girl rented overnight
word: good-time girl
word: GRO
word: hackney
word: harlot
word: Haymarket ware
word: hireling
word: 'ho
word: hoer
word: hoe
word: hook
word: hooker
word: hustler
word: Japayuki-san
word: jay
word: karayuki-san
word: KTV girl
word: laced mutton
word: lady of leisure
word: lady of light virtue
word: lady of pleasure
word: lady of the evening
word: lady of the night
word: lightskirt
word: loose woman
word: lot lizard
word: meat puppet
word: meretrix
word: mermaid
word: minx
word: mob
word: moll
word: mort wap-apace
word: mot
word: mud kicker
word: mud-kicker
word: mudkicker
word: musk cat
word: mutton
word: nun
word: nymph of darkness
word: nymph of the pavé
word: nymph of the pavement
word: painted lady
word: Paphian
word: party girl
word: pavement princess
word: perdita
word: pimpette
word: pretty horsebreaker
word: priestess of Venus
word: pro skirt
word: prossie
word: prossy
word: pross
word: prostie
word: prostitute
word: prostitutor
word: prosty
word: prozzie
word: prozzy
word: pro
word: public woman
word: pucelle
word: puella publica
word: pug
word: punk
word: pussygirl
word: puta
word: put
word: quail
word: quean
word: quene
word: quiff
word: ribibe
word: scrubber
word: sex labourer
word: sex worker
word: skainsmate
word: skivvy
word: slag
word: slapper
word: slit
word: slut
word: sodomitess
word: soiled dove
word: stem siren
word: stew
word: street taco
word: strumpet
word: succubus
word: Suzi Wong
word: Suzie Wong
word: Suzy Wong
word: tart
word: tawaif
word: thotty
word: thot
word: tib
word: tom
word: treddle
word: trick turner
word: trollop
word: trug
word: trull
word: tweak
word: vice girl
word: wanton
word: wapping dell
word: wapping moll
word: wapping mort
word: wench
word: whore
word: woman of easy virtue
word: woman of ill fame
word: woman of ill repute
word: woman of the night
word: woman of the street
word: woman of the town
word: working girl
glosses: A promiscuous woman; also, a mistress (“the other woman in an extramarital relationship”) or a prostitute.
examples: text: And of doggues there ben diuerſe ſortes mo then one: For ther be hariers, or buckhoundes, there by ſpanyels made to the hawke, or for taking of foule, ther be ſhepeherdes curres, there are tye dogges or maſtifes for keepinge of houſes, there ben litle minxes, or pupees that ladies keepe in their chaumbers for eſpecial iewels to playe withall. And ſo, to one demaunding what maner a dogge he, for his part was, he feactely aunſwered and ſaied: when I am hungry I am a litle mynxe ful of play, and when my bealy is full, a maſtife.
ref: 1564 February, Erasmus, “The Saiynges of Diogenes the Cynike”, in Nicolas Udall [i.e., Nicholas Udall], transl., Apophthegmes, that is to Saie, Prompte, Quicke, Wittie and Sentẽcious Saiynges, […], London: […] Ihon Kingston, →OCLC, book II, folios 93, recto – 93, verso, paragraph 140:
glosses: A pet dog.
Derived terms: word: minxish
word: minxishly
word: minxishness
word: minxlike
word: minxship
word: minxy
Related terms: lolita
troublemaker