munchkin

[ muhnch-kin ]

/ ˈmʌntʃ kɪn /

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noun (often initial capital letter)

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

Informal. a child: The munchkins enjoyed holding and feeding the animals in the petting zoo.

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Origin of munchkin

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

Words nearby munchkin

Munchausen syndrome by proxy, München, München-Gladbach, Münchhausen, munchies, munchkin, munchy, Muncie, Munda, mundane, mundane astrology

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use munchkin in a sentence

But I was able to reach Duccini, who at 94 is the oldest Munchkin from The Wizard of Oz.
Meet Ruth Duccini, a Munchkin From ‘The Wizard of Oz’|Ramin Setoodeh|March 8, 2013|DAILY BEAST
She was only 20 when she filmed her role as a member of Munchkin Village.
Meet Ruth Duccini, a Munchkin From ‘The Wizard of Oz’|Ramin Setoodeh|March 8, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But it is surely not too late, even now, to do this, for the girl must still be33 living in the Munchkin Country.
The Tin Woodman of Oz|L. Frank Baum
Ozma offered to take them all in the Red Wagon to a place as near to the great Munchkin forest as189 a wagon could get.
The Tin Woodman of Oz|L. Frank Baum

It had the head of a young man—evidently a Munchkin—with a pleasant face and hair neatly combed.
The Tin Woodman of Oz|L. Frank Baum
Do you remember loving a pretty Munchkin girl named Nimmie Amee?
The Tin Woodman of Oz|L. Frank Baum
He wore a blue Munchkin hat, with pointed crown and broad brim, and big spectacles covered his eyes.
The Tin Woodman of Oz|L. Frank Baum

British Dictionary definitions for munchkin

munchkin

/ (ˈmʌntʃkɪn) /

noun

informal, mainly US an undersized person or a child, esp an appealing one

a breed of medium-sized cat with short legs

Word Origin for munchkin

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

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