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hinny

[hin-ee]
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noun, plural hin·nies.
  1. the offspring of a male horse and a female donkey.Compare mule1(defs 1, 2).
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Origin of hinny

1680–90; obsolete hinne (< Latin hinnus; akin to Greek gínnos mule) + -y2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hinny

Historical Examples

  • Beggars dinna work, hinny, said he—but do not be in a passion.

    Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 19

    Various

  • But ye're just like a' the women, hinny—their outcry is aye about expense and danger.

  • And oh, hinny, but your mother had been a weel-faured woman in her day!

  • And who tould the like of ye, how to make a brum like that, hinny?

    Adle Dubois

    Mrs. William T. Savage

  • The difference between the mule and the hinny would seem to be explicable on this supposition.

British Dictionary definitions for hinny

hinny1

noun plural -nies
  1. the sterile hybrid offspring of a male horse and a female donkey or assCompare mule 1 (def. 1)
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Word Origin

C17: from Latin hinnus, from Greek hinnos

hinny2

verb -nies, -nying or -nied
  1. a less common word for whinny
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hinny3

noun
  1. Scot and Northern English dialect a term of endearment, esp for a woman or child
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Word Origin

variant of honey
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hinny

n.

"offspring of a stallion and a she-ass," 1680s, from Latin hinnus, from Greek innos, ginnos, of unknown origin.

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v.

"to neigh," c.1400, of imitative origin.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper