munchkin

American  

[muhnch-kin] / ˈmʌntʃ kɪn /

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.

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munchkin British  

/ ˈmʌntʃkɪn /

noun

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

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

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Etymology

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

Example Sentences

Supermarket Asda said this year it is on track to sell 400,000 mini, or "munchkin" pumpkins - for use in displays rather than in the kitchen - up from 200,000 last year.

From BBC

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

From 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.

From BBC

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".

From BBC

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

From Slate