inch.
An English unit of length equal to 1/12 of a foot or 2.54 cm.
Meaning & usage
An English unit of length equal to 1/12 of a foot or 2.54 cm.
One rule of thumb is that the width of an adult thumb can approximate a length of one inch.
Any very short distance.
Don't move an inch!
Any of various similar units of length in other traditional systems of measurement.
At the time of Augustus, the Roman inch was standardized at a length about 3% shorter than the modern English one.
A depth of one inch on the ground, used as a measurement of rainfall.
Expect around 2 inches of rain on Saturday afternoon.
A depth of one inch in a glass, used as a rough measurement of alcoholic beverages.
My partner only drinks about a 1 inch pour with dinner, leaving the rest of the bottle for me.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English ynche, enche, from Old English ynċe, borrowed from Latin ū̆ncia (“Roman inch, various similar units”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one”). Doublet of ounce, uncia, onça, onza, oka, ouguiya, and awqiyyah.
To advance very slowly, or by a small amount (in a particular direction).
Fearful of falling, he inched along the window ledge.
To drive by inches, or small degrees.
To deal out by inches; to give sparingly.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English ynche, enche, from Old English ynċe, borrowed from Latin ū̆ncia (“Roman inch, various similar units”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one”). Doublet of ounce, uncia, onça, onza, oka, ouguiya, and awqiyyah.
A small island; an islet.
A meadow, pasture, field, or haugh.
Where this word comes from
From Scots inch, from Scottish Gaelic innis.
cocky and cheeky
Where this word comes from
Semantic loan from Cantonese 寸 (cyun³, “inch”), which is an alternative form of 串 (cyun³, “cocky; to provoke; etc.”).
to burn (to insult); to speak in a cocky and cheeky manner
Where this word comes from
Semantic loan from Cantonese 寸 (cyun³, “inch”), which is an alternative form of 串 (cyun³, “cocky; to provoke; etc.”).
Try it on your idea.
inch has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.