Mutchkin

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A traditional Scottish unit of liquid measurement roughly equivalent to half a pint used historically in small quantities of whisky or other spirits
2. A measure of volume originating in Scotland representing about half a pint, often applied to spirits for sale or personal use
3. A Scottish customary liquid measure approximately equal to half a pint, primarily known for its association with whisky portioning

Etymology: A mutchkin is a Scottish unit of liquid measure, roughly three-quarters of a pint, and its name is a chain of borrowings that runs from a Roman grain measure to a Dutch dry measure and then into Scots. The Latin "modius" was a dry measure of about a peck, a quantity of grain rather than of drink. Medieval Dutch took the idea and shaped it into "mudseken," a small measure, and that became the Scots "mutchkin." The Dutch word was itself built on "mutse," a term for a small measure. Through that link the name carries the memory of a grain container into a word used for measuring whisky and ale in Scottish taverns. The meaning shifted from dry goods to liquids while the name stayed put.

Synonyms: Scottish pint, measure of volume