Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

bird in the hand

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.56 in modern English

Syllables: bird in the -hand
IPA

23

Scrabble Score

13

Letters

2

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

proverb

Ellipsis of a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Example Sentences

"Cowboys picks are more miss than hit. Galloway is a relatively young guy, so what the hey. Bird in the hand, right?"
"Elly had ratcheted up the pressure with her threats of leaving early. I had no other bites on the ad. “Bird in the hand” and all that . . . . So much for negotiating."
"‘Look on the bright side,’ he said when he’d finished. ‘At least we got five hundred quid. Bird in the hand, eh?’"
"“Well, there is that, sir,” Harcourt replied after a moment to think that over. “Bird in the hand, and all that?”"
"You're afraid of losing the customer. If I offer them this other product, they might stop buying that product for which they've come to me for years. Bird in the hand, right?"
"A little bit of cash now means more to the boys than the promise of a fortune who knows when. Bird in the hand, and all […]"

Questions

What does bird in the hand mean?: Ellipsis of a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

How to pronounce bird in the hand

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “bird in the hand”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “bird in the hand”.
Repeat and practice — Say “bird in the hand” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.