Minnow

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈmɪnəʊ/

Definitions

1. A small freshwater fish often used as bait, or a person or organization of insignificant size or influence
2. A tiny fish typically found in freshwater habitats that can be used as bait, or a term describing someone or something of little importance or power
3. This refers to a small fish commonly utilized in fishing as bait, or a metaphor for someone or something that lacks significance or weight in a given context

Etymology: The name of this little fish has a surprisingly tangled ancestry, and its earliest English form was not even pinned to one species. Late Middle English "menew" and "menowe" could mean any small fish, or specifically the common minnow, or a stickleback, a usage that still lingers in parts of Britain. Behind those forms stands Old English "mynwe", traceable to a Proto-West Germanic word meaning simply "small fish", which itself rests on a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "small". The word's relatives are scattered across northern Europe. Middle Low German "mone" survives in Dutch "meun", German "Münne" descends from Old High German "muniwa", and even Latin has "mēna", a small sea-fish. The shared meaning of smallness is what ties them together, so the fish is named for its size rather than any feature of its appearance. English speakers may also have been nudged by similar-sounding words. Anglo-Norman and Old French "menu", meaning small, and the English "minim", used for anything very minute, may have influenced the spelling and sense over time.

Synonyms: small fish, bait fish