Munch

How to spell munch

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce munch

What does munch mean?

1. verbTo chew food steadily and often noisily, especially something crunchy.
2. nounAn act of chewing, or informally a snack or quick bite to eat.

Munch in a sentence

• verb

  The children like to munch on apples after school.

• noun

  We stopped at the cafe for a quick munch between trains.

• verb

  He would munch his way through a whole bag of crisps during the film.

• noun

  The dog gave the biscuit a satisfying munch.

Where does munch come from?

Language of origin: Other

Munch first appears in English in the late 1300s and is almost certainly an imitative or echoic word, coined to mimic the steady, audible sound of jaws working through food. Early forms such as 'mocchen' or 'monche' suggest it grew out of that chewing noise rather than from any single foreign root, though it may have been reinforced by the French 'manger', meaning 'to eat', from Latin 'manducare', 'to chew'. The sense has stayed remarkably stable: it has always meant to chew steadily and noisily, often on something crunchy. Over the centuries it kept its homely, slightly informal flavour, which is why we still 'munch' on crisps or carrots rather than on a formal dinner. Its simple spelling reflects its plain, sound-based origin, with the final 'ch' carrying the soft crunch the word imitates.

How the word is built

• munch (echoic root imitating the sound of chewing)