munch

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English monchen, a variant of mocchen (“to eat greedily, chew audibly”),^[2][3][4] apparently imitative, like crunch and craunch.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10]} The OED adds that it was perhaps partly suggested by Anglo-Norman manger (“to eat”), with its Anglo-Norman variant mancher;^[5] Barnhart likewise thinks the later forms may have been influenced by maungen (“to eat”), from Old French mangier, from Latin mandūcō (“to chew”).^[4][11] Skeat, by contrast, held that it cannot come from French manger, and compared Middle Dutch moncken in Kilian.^[12] Etymonline suggests that the -n- may come from crunch.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To eat food with a steady, noticeable chewing, before 1425 in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, of people who would "monche" their bread alone in bed.^[5][2] The earlier form mocchen, to eat greedily or chew audibly, is recorded before 1325 by Barnhart,^[4] and before 1350 in the Middle English Dictionary, in the poem Of Rybaudȝ, where the knave "momeleþe & moccheþ".^[2] Dictionary.com dates munch to 1375–1425 and Merriam-Webster to the 14th century.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive use, to chew eagerly or audibly on something, is recorded from 1530, in Palsgrave,^[5] who also glossed manche as to eat greedily.^[13] Dekker's "tis munching time" (1600) shows the sense of eating with enjoyment,^[14] and Johnson (1755) defined the verb as to chew by great mouthfuls, quoting Bottom's "I could munch you good dry oats" from A Midsummer Night's Dream.^[15] The noun, something to eat or an act of munching, appears in 1819,^[5] or before 1816 in Barnhart's dating,^[4] and the American plural munchies, snacks, in 1959.^[4] In 1977 American colloquial speech added munch out, to eat snacks greedily.^[5][7] In Scottish and northern English dialect munch also meant to gnaw, or to chew with difficulty like someone without teeth, and in Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire to ill-treat with petty cruelties.^[16] The OED notes a regional verb manch, to mash or crush, which some forms suggest was confused with munch.^[5]

Timeline

• before 1425 – to eat with a steady, noticeable chewing, in Chaucer.^[5][2]
• 1530 – intransitive, to chew eagerly or audibly.^[5]
• 1600 – to eat with enjoyment, in Dekker.^[14]
• 1819 – noun, something to eat; an act of munching.^[5] Barnhart dates the noun to before 1816.^[4]
• 1853 – in extended use.^[5]
• 1959 – munchies, snacks.^[4]
• 1977 – munch out, to eat snacks greedily.^[5]
• 1989 – US slang, to make a blunder; to crash.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To chew food steadily and audibly, often with enjoyment: The pony munched an apple at the gate.^{[10][9][5][7]}
2. To eat with busy movements of the jaws; to chew away on something.^[5][9]
3. munch out (US, informal): to eat snacks, especially greedily.^[5][7]

Noun

1. The act or sound of munching.^[9][5]
2. (informal) Something to eat; a snack or meal.^[5][14]

Word family

• muncher
• munchy
• unmunched

Related words

• crunch
• craunch
• munchies
• manger
• mange

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)