centzontle

See also: centzontlé

English

Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)

Alternative forms

• centzontlé
• cenzontli
• sensonte
• sinsonte
• sinsontle

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish cenzontle, from Classical Nahuatl centzontleh, shortened form of centzontlahtōleh (“mockingbird”, literally “possessor of four hundred words”), from centzontli (“four hundred, a count of four hundred”) + tlahtōlli (“language, word, statement”) + -eh (“possessor of”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

centzontle (plural centzontles)

1. (rare) A mockingbird.
   • 1961, Oscar Lewis, The Children of Sánchez: Autobiography of a Mexican Family:

     He had bought young centzontles and it was Roberto's and Manuel's job to whistle at them until they learned to sing. But the birds picked at the cane and made an opening through which a dozen and a half escaped.