- any songbird of the family Fringillidae, having a short stout bill for feeding on seeds and, in most species, a bright plumage in the male. Common examples are the goldfinch, bullfinch, chaffinch, siskin, and canary
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
finch /fɪntʃ/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Birdsa small songbird having a short cone-shaped bill adapted for eating seeds.
finch
(finch),USA pronunciation n.
- Birdsany of numerous small passerine birds of the family Fringillidae, including the buntings, sparrows, crossbills, purple finches, and grosbeaks, most of which have a short, conical bill adapted for eating seeds.
- Birdsany of various nonfringilline birds, esp. the weaverbirds of the family Ploceidae and the tropical members of the subfamily Emberizinae.
- bef. 900; Middle English; Old English finc; cognate with Dutch vink, German Fink; akin to Greek spíngos finch
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
finch /fɪntʃ/ n
'finch' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
brambling
- bullfinch
- canary
- chaffinch
- goldfinch
- greenfinch
- hawfinch
- linnet
- siskin
- tree sparrow
- twite
- zebra finch
- conirostral
- crossbill
- Darwin's finches
- distelfink
- European finch
- field sparrow
- fink
- grass finch
- house finch
- indigo bunting
- Java finch
- Java sparrow
- lark bunting
- mule
- pine finch
- pine siskin
- purple finch
- pyrrhuloxia
- rosy finch
- vesper sparrow
- weaverbird
- white-throated sparrow
- yellowfinch
- sage sparrow
- serin