finch

English finch comes from Middle English fynch, from Old English finċ, from Proto-West Germanic *finki, from Proto-Germanic *finkiz, tracing back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)pingos, meaning 'chaffinch'.

The word has stayed remarkably stable, referring to the same small bird family from its earliest recorded form in Old English straight through to today.

It shares its root with Dutch vink, German Fink, Welsh pinc, Ancient Greek spíngos, Russian pénka ('wren'), and Sanskrit phiṅgaka ('drongo, shrike') — a wide family of small-bird names spread across Indo-European languages.