munchkin

[muhnch-kin]

noun

(often initial capital letter)

1. a small person, especially one who is dwarfish or elfin in appearance.

2. Informal.,  a child.

   The munchkins enjoyed holding and feeding the animals in the petting zoo.

munchkin

/ ˈmʌntʃkɪn /

noun

1. informal,  an undersized person or a child, esp an appealing one

2. a breed of medium-sized cat with short legs

Word History and Origins

Origin of munchkin¹

After the Munchkins, a dwarflike race portrayed in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) and other fantasy novels

Word History and Origins

Origin of munchkin¹

C20: from the Munchkins, a dwarfish race of people in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)

Example Sentences

The film stars Grande as Glinda and Slater as Boq, a Munchkin friend at Shiz University.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Karis, from Manchester, plays a younger version of the green-skinned protagonist Elphaba, while Harriet, from Tameside, plays a munchkin in the Wizard of Oz prequel, based on the long-running West End and Broadway musical.

Read more on BBC

Few questions fazed the 4’7” woman who Time magazine called the “Munchkin of sex,” who pelted America’s airwaves with anatomically correct dialogue without batting an eye.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

In the podcast, the couple reveal they call each other "munchkin" and Zara has another two-word nickname for Mike in her phone which ends in '"kitten".

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The munchkin breed—the corgi of cats—is proof that short-legged cats can exist.

Read more on Slate