petrel
/ˈpɛt.ɹəl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.21 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "The seventh of May following, we first saw many Birds in bignesse of Cliffe Pidgeons, and after divers other as Pettrels, Cootes, Hagbuts, Pengwins, Murres, Gannets, Cormorants, Guls, with many else in our English Tongue of no name."
- "In a storm they will hover close under the ship's stern in the wake of the ship (as it is called) or the smoothness which the ship's passing has made on the sea; and there as they fly (gently then) they pat the water alternately with their feet as if they walked upon it; though still upon the wing. And from hence the seamen give them the name of petrels in allusion to St. Peter's walking upon the Lake of Gennesareth."
Etymology
From earlier pitteral. Perhaps a diminutive of Peter, with reference to St. Peter's walking on the water (Matthew 14:29). A derivation from patter or pitter-patter has been suggested, for instance by ornithologist Elliott Ladd Coues.
Inflected Forms
Phrases
Antarctic petrel
ashy storm petrel
Atlantic petrel
Barau's petrel
Bermuda petrel
black-bellied storm petrel
black-capped petrel
black storm petrel