linnet

American  

[lin-it] / ˈlɪn ɪt /

noun

1. a small Old World finch, Carduelis cannabina.

2. any of various related birds, as the house finch.

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linnet British  

/ ˈlɪnɪt /

noun

1. a brownish Old World finch, Acanthis cannabina : the male has a red breast and forehead

2. Also called: house finch. a similar and related North American bird, Carpodacus mexicanus

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Etymology

Origin of linnet

1520–30; earlier linet < Middle French (Walloon, Picard ) linette ( French linot, linotte ), derivative of lin flax ( cf. line ¹; so named for its diet of flaxseeds); see -et

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

linnet

They provide habitat for red-listed farmland birds such as corn bunting, yellowhammer and linnet, as well as winter food for visiting species including fieldfares and redwings.

From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2026

Louder yet calmer than they, among the trees, sounded the yellowhammer, the linnet and greenfinch.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

A startled linnet fled from the whirling blades towards the rose-garden.

From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

The sparrow-hawk, duck, and pelican may live to be forty, while the peacock and linnet reach the quarter century, and the canary twenty-four years.

From The Little Gleaner, Vol. X. A Monthly Magazine for the Young by Various

And again: "The creature we help to save, though only a half-reared linnet, bruised and lost by the wayside—how we watch and fence it, and dote on its signs of recovery."

From A Review of the Systems of Ethics Founded on the Theory of Evolution by C. M. Williams

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