pavonine

English

WOTD – 15 August 2010

Etymology

From Latin pāvōnīnus, from pāvō (“peacock”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpævəˌnaɪn/, /-nɪn/

• Audio (US):

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Adjective

pavonine (comparative more pavonine, superlative most pavonine)

1. Of or pertaining to the genus Pavo or its family Pavonidae, including the peafowl.
2. Possessing the coloring or iridescence of a peacock feather.
   • 1817, Anne Plumptre, Narrative of a Residence in Ireland During the Summer of 1814, and that of 1815, page 184:

     These rocks are a schist, and abound with the copper pyrites, which occasionally exhibits a pavonine tarnish. The schist is sometimes of a very deep gray colour, and is then the most rich in metal; sometimes also it has the green […]

   • 1878, Sir Richard Francis Burton, The Gold-mines of Midian and the Ruined Midianite Cities: A Fortnight's Tour in North-western Arabia, page 218:

     It resembled from a distance porphyry, while much of it had a pavonine lustre, like the argentiferous galena of the Silver States in North America. The great weight suggested one mass of metal, and part of it had evidently been […]

   • 1883, Geological Survey of India. Museum, Frederick Richard Mallet, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Collections of Minerals in the Geological Museum, Calcutta, page 42:

     362. Massive BORNITE, having a pavonine purple tarnish; with dolomite. Kenmare mine, Co. Kerry, Ireland. 363. Massive BORNITE, having a pavonine purple tarnish; with malachite and ochre.

   • 1921, American Museum of Natural History, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, page 191:

     In D. kahli the blue of the wings on the upper side is deep pavonine blue, or intense cobalt, confined on the anterior wing to a broad patch above the lower margin near the lower angle, and not invading the cell; […]

3. Showy, like a peacock's tail; exhibiting vanity.
   • 1864, William Rounseville Alger, A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life: With a Complete Bibliography of the Subject, page 479:

     ... leaving its present body would find or construct another according to its chief intrinsic qualities and forces, whether those were a leonine magnanimity of courage, a vulpine subtlety of cunning, or a pavonine strut of vanity .

   • 1901, John Macmillan Brown, Riallaro: The Archipelago of Exiles, page 223:

     He had me all to himself; whilst his wife abased herself before my companion, he made up for the abasement by a truly pavonine strut and spread of his feathers. Amongst the few items of fact that floated on the torrent of his [lecture were...]

   • 2021 December 14, Anthony Ossa-Richardson, A History of Ambiguity, Princeton University Press, →ISBN:

     A list of acknowledgements can be a pavonine affair, an excuse more to flaunt than to thank. I have tried to avoid that here. But I must thank my excellent colleagues at QMUL, […]

Translations

of or pertaining to the genus Pavo

• Armenian: սիրամարգի (siramargi), սիրամարգային (hy) (siramargayin)
• Bulgarian: паунски (paunski)
• Finnish: riikinkukkojen (fi) (genitive of noun)
• Polish: pawi (pl) m
• Russian: павлиний (ru) (pavlinij)
• Slovak: páví

possessing the coloring or iridescence of a peacock feather

• Bulgarian: с цветовете на дъгата (s cvetovete na dǎgata)
• Finnish: riikinkukkomainen
• Latin: pāvōnīnus

Noun

pavonine (uncountable)

1. Tarnish found on some ores and metals which resembles the tail feathers of a peacock.
2. Any bird from the family Pavonidae.

Further reading

• “pavonine”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• 2022 October 14, Peter Isaacs, The Dictionary of Colors and Colored Words, Peter M. Isaacs, →ISBN:

  pavonine adj. like or resembling a peacock's tail in color, design, or iridescence; of or having the colour of a peacock's tail

Latin

Adjective

pāvōnīne

1. vocative masculine singular of pāvōnīnus