yellowhammer
/ˈjɛl.oʊˌhæm.ɚ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.55 in modern English
25
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The northern flicker, Colaptes auratus, a woodpecker with yellow underwings and undertail and often other yellowish underparts; one of its ways of feeding is to hammer on trees to find insects (adults and larvae) to eat.
American usage
noun
A native or resident of the American state of Alabama.
Etymology
An alteration (influenced by hammer) of the earlier yelambre, yelamber, from Middle English *yelwambre, from yelwe (“yellow”) + *ambre (“yellowhammer”), from Old English amore, related to Old High German amaro (“yellowhammer”) (see modern German Ammer).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *yelwambre, amore
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈjɛl.oʊˌhæm.ɚ/
- British English: /ˈjɛl.əʊˌhæm.ə(ɹ)/
Usage
- American usage