bird
/ˈbɜːd/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.63 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An animal of the clade (traditionally class) Aves in the phylum Chordata, characterized by being warm-blooded, having feathers and wings usually capable of flight, having a beaked mouth, and laying eggs.
Example Sentences
- "Ducks and sparrows are birds."
- "The level below this is called the Phylum; birds belong to the Phylum Chordata, which includes all the vertebrate animals (the sub-phylum Vertebrata) and a few odds and ends."
- "[…] the foxes have holes, and the brydds of the aier have nestes, but [t]he sonne of the man hath not where onto leye his heede: […]"
- "That ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird."
- "He once took in his own mother, and was robbed by a 'pal,' who thought he was a doctor. Oh, he's a rare bird is 'Gentleman Joe'!"
- ""What I mean - I expect that old, red-headed bird at the office sent you round with no other purpose.""
Etymology
Etymology tree Old English bridd Middle English brid English bird From Middle English bird, brid, from Old English bridd (“chick, fledgling, chicken”), of uncertain origin (see Old English bridd for more). Originally from a term used of birds that could not fly (chicks, fledglings, chickens) as opposed to the general Old English term for flying birds, fugol (modern fowl). Gradually replaced fowl as the most common term starting in the 14th century. The "booing/jeering" and "vulgar hand gesture" senses derived from the expression “to give the big bird”, as in “to hiss someone like a goose”, dated in the mid‐18th century.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: bird, bridd
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbɜːd/
Usage
- Obsolete
- Slang
- British usage
- Colloquial
- American usage
- Canadian usage
- Informal
- Intransitive verb
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Law, People.