mint
pronunciation
How to pronounce mint in British English:
UK [mɪnt]
How to pronounce mint in American English:
US [mɪnt]
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- Noun:
- (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
- any north temperate plant of the genus Mentha with aromatic leaves and small mauve flowers
- the leaves of a mint plant used fresh or candied
- a candy that is flavored with a mint oil
- a plant where money is coined by authority of the government
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- Verb:
- form by stamping, punching, or printing
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- Adjective:
- as if new
Word Origin
- mint
- mint: [OE] English has two completely unconnected words mint. The ‘money factory’ comes ultimately from Latin monēta ‘mint, money’ (source also of English money). It was borrowed into prehistoric West Germanic as *munita, which in due course produced Old English mynet. This denoted ‘coin’ (as its modern German relative münze still does), and it was not until the 15th century that the modern sense ‘place where money is made’ emerged. Mint the plant originated in Greek mínthē, and reached English via Latin mentha (source of menthol [19], a German coinage) and prehistoric West Germanic *minta.=> money; menthol
- mint (n.1)
- aromatic herb, Old English minte (8c.), from West Germanic *minta (cognates: Old Saxon minta, Middle Dutch mente, Old High German minza, German Minze), a borrowing from Latin menta, mentha "mint," from Greek minthe, personified as a nymph transformed into an herb by Proserpine, probably a loan-word from a lost Mediterranean language.
- mint (n.2)
- place where money is coined, early 15c., from Old English mynet "coin, coinage, money" (8c.), from West Germanic *munita (cognates: Old Saxon munita, Old Frisian menote, Middle Dutch munte, Old High German munizza, German münze), from Latin moneta "mint" (see money). Earlier word for "place where money is coined" was minter (early 12c.). General sense of "a vast sum of money" is from 1650s.
- mint (v.)
- "to stamp metal to make coins," 1540s, from mint (n.2). Related: Minted; minting. Minter "one who stamps coins to create money" is from early 12c.
- mint (adj.)
- "perfect" (like a freshly minted coin), 1887 (in mint condition), from mint (n.2).
Example
- 1. She orders a mint tea , flashing another smile .
- 2. The overseer of the mint struck coins for me .
- 3. They create an optical illusion that the mint hopes is almost impossible to duplicate .
- 4. Mint condition vintage clothing especially unworn stock , is very rare .
- 5. The us treasury said it would not mint a platinum coin to avoid an increase in the nation 's borrowing limit , ending speculation that the obama administration would exploit an arcane loophole to avert a possible default .