View source for minx

==English==
{{was wotd|2021|March|16}}

===Pronunciation===
* {{IPA|en|/mɪŋks/|a=RP,GA}}
* {{audio|en|LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-minx.wav|a=RP}}
* {{homophone|en|minks}}
* {{rhymes|en|ɪŋks|s=1}}

===Etymology 1===
{{PIE word|en|ǵʰmṓ}}{{root|en|ine-pro|*men-|id=think|*mon-}}
The origin of the {{glossary|noun}} is {{uncertain|en|nocap=1}}. The following possible derivations have been suggested:<ref>{{R:OED Online|pos=n|id=119017|date=December 2020|nodot=1}}; {{R:Lexico|pos=n}}</ref>

* A variation of {{m|en|minikin|t=(''obsolete'') young person, especially a young woman; small or insignificant person, thing, or amount}} + a variation of {{m|en|-s|pos={{glossary|suffix}} forming [[hypocoristic]] nouns (nicknames)}} (compare {{m|en|minckins}}, a variant of {{m|en||minikin}}).
* From {{der|en|nl|mens}}, {{m|nl|mensch|t=human being, person; (''derogatory, informal'') woman}} {{qualifier|obsolete}}, {{der|en|dum|minsc}}, {{m|dum|minsce}}, {{m|dum|minsch}}; or from {{der|en|nds-de|minsch}}, {{m|nds-de|minsk}}, {{der|en|gml|minsche|t=hussy, wench}},<ref>{{R:Webster 1913|minx}}</ref> all ultimately from {{der|en|gem-pro|*manniskaz|t=human|pos=adjective}}, from {{m|gem-pro|*mann-|t=human being, person; man}} (possibly from {{der|en|ine-pro|*ǵʰmṓ|t=earthling}}, {{m|ine-pro|*men-|t=to mind; to think; spiritual activity}}, or {{m|ine-pro|*mon-|t=human being; man}}) + {{m|gem-pro|*-iskaz|pos=suffix meaning ‘characteristic of, pertaining to’ forming {{glossary|adjective}}s}}.

The {{glossary|verb}} is derived from the noun.<ref>{{R:OED Online|entry=† minx|pos=v|id=236913|date=December 2020}}</ref>

====Noun====
{{en-noun}}

# A [[flirtatious]], [[impudent]], or [[pert]] [[young#Adjective|young]] [[woman]].
#* {{RQ:Nashe Pierce Penilesse|page=21|passage=In an other corner, Mistris '''Minx''', a marchants wife, that will eate no cherries, forsooth, but when they are at twentie shillings a pound, that lookes as simperingly as if she were besmeard, and [[eats|iets]] it as gingerly as if she were dancing the canaries, {{...}}}}
#* {{RQ:Congreve Love for Love|scene=iii|page=20|passage=How Huſſie! was there ever ſuch a provoking '''Minx'''?}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=[[w:Joseph Richardson (1755–1803)|Joseph Richardson]]|title=The Fugitive: A Comedy.{{nb...|As It is Performed at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket.}}|location=London|publisher={{...|Printed for}} [[w:John Debrett|[John] Debrett]],{{nb...|opposite Burlington-House, Piccadilly.}}|year=1792|section=act IV, scene ii|page=56|pageurl=https://archive.org/details/fugitivecomedy00richiala/page/n71/mode/1up|oclc=1118148936|passage=''Miſs Herbert''. So good, Mr. gallant, gay Lothario of ſixty-five, a good morning to you. [''Exit. Miſs Herbert.'' / ''Old Manly''. A ſaucy '''minx'''.}}
#* {{RQ:Dickens Nicholas Nickleby|chapter=Illustrative of the Convivial Sentiment, that the Best of Friends Must Sometimes Part|pages=414–415|pageref=414|passage=Miss Squeers made no more direct reply than surveying her former friend from top to toe, and elevating her nose in the air with ineffable disdain. But some indistinct allusions to a ‘puss,’ and a ‘'''minx''',’ and a ‘contemptible creature,’ escaped her; and this, together with a severe biting of the lips, great difficulty in swallowing, and very frequent comings and goings of breath, seemed to imply that feelings were swelling in Miss Squeers’s bosom too great for utterance.}}
#* {{RQ:Melville Pierre|book=XII|section=IV|page=272|passage="Thy own tongue blister the roof of thy mouth!" cried Mrs. Glendinning, in a half-stifled, whispering scream. "'Tis not for thee, hired one, to rail at my son, though he were Lucifer, simmering in Hell! Mend thy manners, '''minx'''!"}}
#* {{RQ:Hughes Tom Brown at Oxford|part=2|chapter=The Long Vacation Letter-bag|page=105|passage=Hopkins says she is a dressed-up little '''minx''' who runs after all the young men in the parish; but really, from what I see and hear from other persons, I think she is a good girl enough.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Marie Fraser|chapter=Tapos and Other ‘Fafines’|title=In [[w:Robert Louis Stevenson|Stevenson]]’s Samoa|location=London|publisher=[[w:Smith, Elder & Co.|Smith, Elder, & Co.]],{{nb...|15 Waterloo Place}}|year=1895|page=111|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=4gxBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA111|oclc=926056876|passage=Others were pert little '''minxes''', and were amusingly condescending to their friends and relatives; but when it came to the feast all the innocent little airs and graces were left aside, and the saucy tapo enjoyed her pig and yams as naturally as the hungriest boy there.}}
#* {{RQ:Mitchell Gone with the Wind|chapter=XVIII|page=317|passage=A widow with a child was at a disadvantage with these pretty little '''minxes''', she thought. But in these exciting days her widowhood and her motherhood weighed less heavily upon her than ever before.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Barbara Delinsky|title=Commitments|location=New York, N.Y.; Boston, Mass.|publisher=w:Grand Central Publishing|year=1988|year_published=October 2012|page=69|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=SksnBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA69|isbn=978-1-4555-1958-3|passage=Single, and generally on the make, she was alternatively an angel, a devil and a '''minx'''.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Helen Fielding|chapter=Wednesday, 4 January|chapterurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=l5jMNzr-CnYC&pg=PT18|title=[[w:Bridget Jones's Diary|Bridget Jones’s Diary]]|location=London|publisher=w:Penguin Books|year=1996|year_published=1999 (2010 printing)|isbn=978-1-101-19954-1|passage=As women glide from their twenties to thirties, Shazzer argues, the balance of power subtly shifts. Even the most outrageous '''minxes''' lose their nerve, wrestling with the first twinges of existential angst: fears of dying alone and being found three weeks later half-eaten by an Alsatian.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Meera Syal|title=Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee|edition=Black Swan|location=London|publisher=w:Transworld Publishers|year=1999|year_published=2015|page=242|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=ujCRS4tzacEC&pg=PA242|isbn=978-1-78416-118-7|passage=We're quite a powerful group, us wrinkly teenagers, us pre-menopausal '''minxes'''.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Richard Wigmore|chapter=Operas and Dramatic Music|title=The Faber Pocket Guide to Haydn|location=London|publisher=w:Faber and Faber|year=2009|page=307|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=DG30af_PDPYC&pg=PA307|isbn=978-0-571-23412-7|passage=Both girls [in {{w|Joseph Haydn}}'s ''{{w|Le pescatrici}}''] reveal themselves as '''minxes'''.}}
# {{lb|en|derogatory|dated}} A [[promiscuous]] woman; also, a {{l|en|mistress|t=the [[other woman]] in an [[extramarital]] [[relationship]]}} or a [[prostitute#Noun|prostitute]].
#: {{synonyms|en|Thesaurus:mistress|Thesaurus:promiscuous woman|Thesaurus:prostitute}}
#* {{RQ:Whetstone Rocke of Regard|pages=164–165|pageref=165|passage=Well, yet at length the houre came that flattered him with grace, / Who all too haſtie [[hied|hide]] him ſelfe to his appointed place. / Arrived there, a pretie '''minx''' (directed wel before) / Unto a lodging brought this lord, and locked faſt the dore. / When he was ſafe, awaye ſhe went, for joy Alberto hopt, / But ſee, a chaunge! too late he ſpyde he was in priſon popt. / The windowes made of yron barres, the walles of ſtone and clay, / A bed he found, but farre unfit he thought for [[w:Venus (mythology)|Venus]] play.}}
#* {{RQ:Shakespeare Othello Q1|act=IV|scene=i|page=65|passage=[W]hat did you meane by that ſame handkercher, you gaue mee euen now? {{...}} this is ſome '''minx'''es token, and I muſt take out the worke; there, giue it the hobby horſe, whereſoeuer you had it, I'le take out no worke on't.}}
#* {{RQ:Burton Melancholy|edition=2nd|chapter=Causes of Iealousie, Who are Most Apt.{{nb...|Idlenesse, Melancholy, Impotency, Long Absence, Beauty, Wantonnesse, Bad Themselues, Allurements, from Time, Place, Persons, Bad Usage.}}|partition=3|section=3|member=1|subsection=2|page=469|url=https://archive.org/details/2319035R.nlm.nih.gov/page/n568/mode/1up|passage=If thou be abſent long, thy wife then thinkes, / Th'art drunke, at eaſe, or with ſome pretty '''minkes''', / 'Tis well with thee, or elſe beloued of ſome, / Whil'ſt ſhee poore ſoule doth fare full ill at home.}}
#* {{RQ:Dryden Kind Keeper|scene=i|page=4|passage=They are a couple of alluring wanton '''Minxes'''.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=J. Copywell [pseudonym; {{w|William Woty}}]|chapter=Money. A Fragment of an Intended Parody.|title=The Shrubs of Parnassus. Consisting of a Variety of Poetical Essays, Moral and Comic|location=London|publisher={{...|Printed for the author; and sold by}} [[w:John Newbery|J[ohn] Newbery]],{{nb...|at the Bible and Sun, in St. Paul’s Church-yard.}}|year=1760|page=142|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=0U8CAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA142|oclc=3491109|passage=He to his ardent love ſhall win the fair, / From beauty's queen, to her who ſcrubs the ſtair, / From the Kept-miſtreſs, or the Counteſs vain, / Down to the tawdry '''Minx''' in Drury Lane.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|title=England’s Bards, 1864; or, The Three Poems which were Awarded the One Hundred Guineas Offered as Prizes in the Advertisement “Ho! For a Shakespeare!” which Appeared about the Time of [[w:William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]’s Tercentenary Anniversary|location=London|publisher=Day and Son,{{nb...|lithographers to the Queen, and to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, Gate Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields.}}|year=1864|section=section I (Pallas Athené and Venus at Breakfast with Juno, in One of Her Apartments)|page=12|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cs9LAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA12|oclc=560031042|passage=For my part, if I understand these sphinxes, / These living riddles called Olympian Gods, / I think they are in love with mortal '''minxes'''; / (It would not be the only time by odds;) {{...}}}}
#* {{RQ:Joyce Finnegans Wake|page=496|passage=There wasn't an Archimandrite of Dane's Island and the townlands nor a '''minx''' from the Isle of Woman {{...}} would come next or nigh him, {{...}}}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Judith Holder|chapter=January|chapterurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=UiZisiOOGoUC&pg=PT26|title=The Secret Diary of a Grumpy Old Woman: AKA A Year in Big Knickers|location=London|publisher=[[w:Hachette (publisher)|Hachette UK]]|year=2009|year_published=2011|isbn=978-1-78022-388-9|passage=Tragically forgot to take drying washing down off rack over Aga and a pair of my very large knickers was perilously close to brushing the top of his hair as he came in. {{...}} I quickly swapped them with a pair of ELDEST's teeny-weeny ones, so he thinks he might be marrying into a family of sex '''minxes''' who stay that way well into middle age.}}
# {{lb|en|obsolete}} A [[pet#Adjective|pet]] [[dog#Noun|dog]].
#* {{RQ:Erasmus Udall Apophthegmes|chapter=Diogenes|para=140|folio=93|folioend=93|versoend=1|folioref=93|versoref=1|passage=And of doggues there ben diuerſe ſortes mo then one: For ther be hariers, or buckhoundes, there by ſpanyels made to the hawke, or for taking of [[fowl|foule]], ther be ſhepeherdes curres, there are tye dogges or maſtifes for keepinge of houſes, there ben litle '''minxes''', or pupees that ladies keepe in their chaumbers for eſpecial iewels to playe withall. And ſo, to one demaunding what maner a dogge he, for his part was, he feactely aunſwered and ſaied: when I am hungry I am a litle '''mynxe''' ful of play, and when my bealy is full, a maſtife.|footer=According to the ''{{w|Oxford English Dictionary}}'', the passage “does not correspond closely to anything in Erasmus’s text”.}}

=====Derived terms=====
{{col3|en
|minxish
|minxishly
|[[minxishness]] {{qualifier|dated}}
|minxlike
|[[minxship]] {{qualifier|obsolete}}
|minxy
}}

=====Translations=====
{{trans-top|flirtatious, impudent, or pert young woman}}
* Bulgarian: {{t+|bg|кокетка|f}}, {{t|bg|хубостни́ца|f}}
* Cebuano: {{t|ceb|igat}}, {{t|ceb|takirub}}
* Cornish: {{t|kw|flownen|f}}
* Czech: {{t|cs|rozpustilá dívka}}
* Finnish: {{t|fi|heilakka}}, {{t+|fi|hupakko}}
* French: {{t+|fr|pimbêche|f}}
* Hungarian: {{t|hu|[[kacér]]/[[pajkos]]/[[huncut]]/[[kihívó]]/[[dévaj]] [[lány]]/[[nő]]}}, {{t|hu|([[kis]]) [[bestia]]}}
* Italian: {{t+|it|civetta|f}}
* Japanese: {{t|ja|お侠|tr=おきゃん, okyan}}
* Latvian: {{t|lv|draiskule|f}}
* Macedonian: {{t|mk|коке́тка|f}}
* Portuguese: {{t+|pt|coquete}}, {{t|pt|interesseira}}, {{t+|pt|sirigaita|f}}
* Russian: {{t|ru|[[дерзкий|дерзкая]] [[девчо́нка]]|f}}, {{t+|ru|прока́зница|f}}, {{t+|ru|распу́тница|f}} {{qualifier|wanton}}, {{t+|ru|шалу́нья|f}}
* Spanish: {{t|es|petisuis|f}}
* Swedish: {{t+|sv|markatta|c}}
{{trans-bottom}}

{{trans-see|promiscuous woman|slut}}
{{trans-see|other woman in an extramarital relationship|mistress}}
{{trans-see|prostitute}}

=====See also=====
* [[Thesaurus:lolita]]
* [[Thesaurus:troublemaker]]

====Verb====
{{en-verb}}

# {{lb|en|ambitransitive}} ''Used transitively when followed by'' '''[[it]]''': to [[behave]] like a [[minx#Noun|minx]], that is, in a [[flirtatious]] and [[impudent]] [[manner]].
#: {{synonyms|en|Thesaurus:harlotize}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=[Dr. Milligan]|chapter=Flight the Fifth|title=Baal: Or, Sketches of Social Evils. A Poem, in Ten Flights|location=London|publisher=William Freeman,{{nb...|102 Fleet Street.}}|year=1861|page=102|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=FVm7Iikzcp8C&pg=PA102|oclc=30085811|passage=[He] knows the dress of every girl he meets— / In fact could cut you out the very plan, / Each article could name, and tell you every shade, / Whether adorning '''minxing''' miss or ancient maid!}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Alan Bissett|title=Damage Land: New Scottish Gothic Fiction|location=Edinburgh|publisher=[[w:Birlinn (publisher)|Polygon]]|month=July|year=2001|page=60|isbn=978-0-7486-6284-5|passage=Alison might have, if she hadn't '''minxed''' herself out of a job.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Megan Abbott|title=Bury Me Deep|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=[[w:Simon & Schuster|Simon & Schuster Paperbacks]]|year=2009|page=121|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=fFcdUVCrSMwC&pg=PA121|isbn=978-1-4165-9909-8|passage=She grabbed desperately at the pistol, singeing hot, and she and Ginny fell to the floor, Marion on top and looking down at twisty little Ginny, that '''minxing''' blond thrush, now beneath her, churning under her and spitting and hacking and cursing Marion and cursing her so.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Eleanor Moran|title=Mr Almost Right|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pMWo8ItJ_u8C&pg=PT112|location=London|publisher=w:Penguin Books|year=2010|isbn=978-0-14-103647-2|passage=It's just a late date. It's like I'm {{w|Carrie Bradshaw}}, '''minxing''' it around Manhattan.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Norm Sibum|chapter=Book III—In Continuation, a Proper Narrative|editor=Dan Wells|title=The Traymore Rooms: A Novel in Five Parts: Quebec, America and Rome|location=Windsor, Ont.|publisher=w:Biblioasis|year=2013|section=part 2 (Echo’s Gone)|page=261|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=cE6CCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA261|isbn=978-1-927428-23-8|passage=Moonface '''minxed''' and flashed her red nails like a dancer, chameleon that she was.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Kelly Brook|title=Close Up: The Autobiography|location=London|publisher=w:Sidgwick & Jackson|year=2014|isbn=978-0-283-07199-7|passage=Sadly, I was the one '''minxing''' around, so I was inevitably going to meet a horrible death.}}
# {{lb|en|transitive}} To [[make#Verb|make]] (someone) like a minx; {{lb|en|intransitive}} to [[become]] like a minx.
#* {{quote-book|en|title=Hide & Seek Melbourne 2|location=Prahran, Vic.|publisher=Explore Australia Publishing|year=2012|isbn=978-1-74117-400-7|passage=Whether you're sipping fine bubbly from a crystal flute while having your nails '''minxed''', or soaking in a heavenly milk bath, a visit to Miss Fox is your ticket to forget your worries and simply indulge.}}

=====Translations=====
{{trans-top|to behave like a minx, that is, in a flirtatious and impudent manner}}
{{trans-bottom}}

{{trans-top|to make (someone) like a minx; to become like a minx}}
{{trans-bottom}}

===Etymology 2===
A variant of {{m|en|mink}}.<ref>{{R:OED Online|entry=mink|pos=''n.''{{sup|1}} and ''adj|id=118910|date=December 2020}}</ref>

====Noun====
{{en-noun}}

# {{obsolete spelling of|en|mink|t=any of various [[semi-aquatic]], [[carnivorous]] [[mammal]]s in the [[Mustelinae]] [[subfamily]]|nocap=1}}. {{defdate|18th–19th c.}}
#: {{syn|en|minx otter}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Thomas Pennant|quotee=w:John Bartram|chapter=Otter|title=Synopsis of Quadrupeds|location=Chester, Cheshire|publisher={{...|Printed by}} J. Monk|year=1771|page=240|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=cK5gAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA240|oclc=923950169|passage=The '''''Minx''''' {{...}} frequents the water like the Otter, and very much reſembles it in ſhape and color, but is leſs; will abide longer under the water than the muſk quaſh, muſk rat, or little beaver: {{...}}}}
#* {{RQ:Audubon Ornithological Biography|chapter=The Great Carolina Wren. ''Troglodytes ludovicianus'', Ch. Bonaparte.{{nb...|Plate LXXVIII. Male and Female.}}|page=401|passage=Many of these birds are destroyed by Weasels and '''Minxes'''.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=J. H. Mather; L. P. Brockett|chapter=Zoology. [Class I. ''Mammalia.'']|title=Geography of the State of New York.{{nb...|Embracing Its Physical Features, Climate, Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, Zoology, History, Pursuits of the People, Government, Education, Internal Improvements, &c. with Statistical Tables, and a Separate Description and Map of Each County. Accompanied by a Large Outline Map and Geological Chart. For the Use of Schools, Families, etc.}}|location=Hartford, Conn.|publisher=J. H. Mather & Co. [''et al.'']|year=1847|page=39|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQYyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA39|oclc=1029910079|passage=2d. ''Carnivora'', or flesh eaters. Of these we have {{...}} the New York ermine, or ermine weasel; the mink, or '''minx''' otter; the common otter; {{...}}}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Charles Henry Eden|chapter=VII|title=The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver; or, Fur-hunting in the Wilds of Canada|location=London|publisher=w:Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; New York, N.Y.: Pott, Young & Co.|year=[1876]|page=153|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=egMCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA153|oclc=84718327|passage=We next come to the mink or '''minx''' otter (''Putorius Vison'') which is the only animal of the genus ''mustela'' inhabiting the northern parts of America that can be said to live in the water, and the name of "fisher" could with much justice be transferred from its present bearer to the mink.}}
#* {{quote-journal|en|author=John H. Keatley|title=Under the Arctic Circle|editor=[[w:B. O. Flower|B[enjamin] O[range] Flower]]|magazine=[[w:The Arena (magazine)|The Arena]]|location=Boston, Mass.|publisher=w:Arena Publishing Co.|month=March|year=1893|volume=VII|issue=XL|page=491|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=W3RBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA491|oclc=7416744|passage=There is, however, scarcely any distinction in the other portions of the dress of the sexes [of southeastern Alaskan natives], except that the skin coats or tunics of the women and the facings of the bonnet or hood (worn by both sexes) are more elaborately decorated with '''minx''', otter, or seal fur about the throat, and down the front, than those of the men.}}

===References===
<references/>

===Further reading===
* {{pedia|minx|minx (disambiguation)}}

{{cln|en|terms suffixed with -s (hypocoristic)}}
{{C|en|Mustelids|Prostitution|Sex|Female people}}