Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

widow bird

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.97 in modern English

Syllables: wid-ow bird
IPA

19

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Any of several species of birds in the family Viduidae, incorporating whydahs and widow finches.

noun

Any of several species of birds in the genus Euplectes.

Etymology

Compound of widow + bird. The name for the family Viduidae derives from the genus name Vidua, from post-classical Latin vidua (“widow”) for males' black plumage, which resembles the mourning clothes of a widow. Compare whydah, from Whydah, a city in the Kingdom of Dahomey, now Ouidah, Benin. The terms widow-bird and whydah-bird influenced one another due to association of one species with the city.

Origin

Source language: Latin

Word Breakdown

Root: vidua

Inflected Forms

widow birds (plural) widowbird (alternative)

Phrases

long-tailed widowbird red-collared widowbird

Synonyms

whydah whidah

Questions

What does widow bird mean?: Any of several species of birds in the family Viduidae, incorporating whydahs and widow finches.
Where does widow bird come from?: It is traced to Latin.

How to pronounce widow bird

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