mint

¹ American  

[mint] / mɪnt /

noun

1. any aromatic herb of the genus Mentha, having opposite leaves and small, whorled flowers, as the spearmint and peppermint.

2. a soft or hard confection or candy flavored with spearmint or peppermint.

   after-dinner mints.

3.  mint green.  a light green color with a cool, bluish undertone.

   The cushion comes in mint or orange.

---

adjective

1. made or flavored with mint.

   mint tea.

2. of the color mint.

mint ² American  

[mint] / mɪnt /

noun

• mints
  plural

1. a place where coins, paper currency, special medals, etc., are produced under government authority.

2. a place where something is produced or manufactured

3. a vast amount, especially of money.

   He made a mint in oil wells.

---

adjective

1. Philately. (of a stamp) being in its original, unused condition.

2. unused or appearing to be newly made and never used.

   a book in mint condition.

verb (used with object)

• mints,
  present (3rd person singular)
• minted,
  past,  past participle
• minting
  present participle

1. to make (coins, money, etc.) by stamping metal.

2. to turn (metal) into coins.

   to mint gold into sovereigns.

3. to make or fabricate; invent.

   to mint words.

mint ³ American  

[mint] / mɪnt /

noun

1. intent; purpose.

2. an attempt; try; effort.

---

verb (used with object)

1. to try (something); attempt.

2. to take aim at (something) with a gun.

3. to hit or strike at (someone or something).

verb (used without object)

1. to try; attempt.

2. to take aim.

mint ¹ British  

/ mɪnt /

noun

1. a place where money is coined by governmental authority

2. a very large amount of money

   he made a mint in business

---

adjective

1. (of coins, postage stamps, etc) in perfect condition as issued

2. informal excellent; impressive

3. in perfect condition; as if new

verb

1. to make (coins) by stamping metal

2. (tr) to invent (esp phrases or words)

mint ² British  

/ mɪnt /

noun

1. any N temperate plant of the genus Mentha , having aromatic leaves and spikes of small typically mauve flowers: family Lamiaceae (labiates). The leaves of some species are used for seasoning and flavouring See also peppermint spearmint horsemint water mint

2. another name for dittany

3. a sweet flavoured with mint

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• minter
  noun
• minty
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mints
  plural

Participles

• minting
  present
• minted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• mint
  simple
• mints
  simple
• have minted
  perfect
• has minted
  perfect
• am minting
  progressive
• are minting
  progressive
• is minting
  progressive
• have been minting
  perfect progressive
• has been minting
  perfect progressive

Past

• minted
  simple
• had minted
  perfect
• was minting
  progressive
• were minting
  progressive
• had been minting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will mint
  simple
• will have minted
  perfect
• will be minting
  progressive
• will have been minting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of mint¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English, Old English minte (cognate with Old High German minza ), from Latin ment(h)a, from the same source as Greek mínthē

Origin of mint²

First recorded before 900; Middle English mint(e), Old English mynet “coin, coinage, money,” from Latin monēta “coin, mint,” after the temple of Juno Monēta, where Roman money was coined

Origin of mint³

First recorded before 900; Middle English verb minten, munte(n) “to intend, plan, think of,” Old English myntan, gemyntan “to mean, intend”; akin to mind; noun derivative of the verb

Explanation

Mint is a green herb with a bright, cool taste and smell. The best part about brushing your teeth is the clean flavor of mint in your mouth afterward. Mint plants smell great, and you can even chew the leaves as a natural breath freshener. The sweet, clean flavor is common in chewing gum, dental floss, and candy (in fact, a mint-flavored candy is called a mint). A completely different sort of mint is a place where money is made, or minted. Informally, an enormous amount of money is also a mint: "He inherited a mint and bought a Rolls Royce."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mint mints minted minting

There was an apparent colour clash with Bayer Leverkusen's away kit, which is mint with a blue pattern, so Newcastle players put on their lilac third strip instead.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

On the other hand, if your $16 “mocktail” is lemonade with soda and some mint leaves, we need to have a conversation.

From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026

We’re in the prime season for cooking with aromatics like basil, parsley, and mint, but recipes too often waste these ingredients’ potential.

From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026

The Zekrom card—a black dragon Pokémon—was rare and in near mint condition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Christopher felt the warmth of it on his skin; it smelled of mint and animal and something else, something magnificently wild: the smell, he thought, of glimourie.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

After years of disappointment, a random eBay trawl turned up a surprise offer of the long-lost chocolate mints, with a notice for mint vintage items.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026

There’s been a “sudden rush” into physical silver by Western buyers, he said, pointing out that mints have waits of a month or longer for silver bullion coins.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 14, 2026

I wandered next door into the exhibit hall, where rows of tables were strapped with plastic banners and heaped with leaflets, mints, lens cleaners, highlighters, and tote bags.

From Slate ● Jan. 13, 2026

But Team Tugendhat led the field with souvenir hats, t-shirts, mints with his name on them, tattoos - and even Tugend-tan, fake tan.

From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2024

Maybe if we were friends, she would have offered the mints to me first and I would have a perfectly round one.

From "Piecing Me Together" by Renée Watson

The private island, Indian Creek, represents one of South Florida’s major battlefields where the region’s newly minted billionaires are clashing with those of more modest affluence who trace their Miami roots back generations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

On one hand, Patterson, 66, is a freshly minted College Football Hall of Famer and one of the great defensive minds of the modern era.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026

Tobias, the newly minted rail fan, said he was so moved after seeing Big Boy that he called his investment adviser to buy Union Pacific stock.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

First, that drove investment in public space companies while SpaceX lingered in the private market, then sold those stocks to buy SpaceX’s newly minted shares.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026

Thus installed, the newly minted civil servants fanned out to take their places in one of the research facility’s expanding inventory of buildings, each already as full as a pod ripe with peas.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

Posing the question as we did on the eve of the biggest IPO ever, and the minting of the world’s first trillionaire, we shouldn’t be surprised by the outpouring of great responses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026

During the first quarter, the company started minting a stablecoin called SoFiUSD and enhanced its broader settlement capabilities within the cryptocurrency market.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 29, 2026

The incident, attributed to an internal technical error, highlights concerns about stablecoin minting processes and backing.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2025

No monarchy or dictatorship for us; we were hostile to the idea of minting the portrait of a living leader for the very reason Caesar thought it was such a clever idea.

From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2025

The coins from this mint, which was at work during a large part of the fifteenth century, bore distinctive marks to show the place of minting.

From Life in a Mediæval City Illustrated by York in the XVth Century by Edwin Benson