songbird

English

Etymology

From song +‎ bird.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɒŋˌbɜːd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔŋˌbɝd/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑŋˌbɝd/

Noun

songbird (plural songbirds)

1. A bird having a melodious song or call.
   • 1976, Electric Light Orchestra, Rockaria!:

     Sweet little lady sings like a songbird / And she sings the opera like you ain't never heard

2. Any bird in the passerine suborder Passeri, which are distinguished by a more sophisticated vocal apparatus.

   Synonym: oscine

3. (idiomatic, by extension) A person, especially a woman, with a melodious voice.

Hyponyms

• songster (male), songstress (female)

Derived terms

• Asian songbird crisis

Translations

bird

• Albanian: zog këngëtar
• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: пяву́чая пту́шка f (pjavúčaja ptúška)
• Bulgarian: пойна птица f (pojna ptica)
• Catalan: ocell cantador m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鳴禽／鸣禽 (zh) (míngqín), 鳴鳥／鸣鸟 (zh) (míngniaǒ)

• Classical Nahuatl: cuīcanitōtōtl
• Danish: sangfugl (da) c
• Dutch: zangvogel (nl) m
• Esperanto: kantobirdo
• Faroese: sangfuglur m
• Finnish: laululintu
• French: oiseau chanteur (fr) m
• Georgian: მგალობელი ჩიტი (mgalobeli čiṭi), მგალობელი ფრინველი (mgalobeli prinveli)
• German: Singvogel (de) m
• Greek: ωδικό πτηνό n (odikó ptinó)
• Hungarian: énekesmadár (hu)
• Ido: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: 鳴き鳥 (なきどり, nakidori)
• Korean: 명금 (myeonggeum)
• Latvian: dziedātājputns m
• Lithuanian: giesmininkas
• Maori: manu tīoriori
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sangfugl m, sanger (no) m

  Nynorsk: songfugl m

• Polish: ptak śpiewający m
• Portuguese: pássaro (pt) m, passarinho (pt) m (diminutive), ave de canto f
• Russian: пе́вчая пти́ца (ru) f (pévčaja ptíca)
• Slovene: ptič pevec m, ptica pevka f
• Spanish: pájaro cantor m
• Swedish: sångfågel (sv) c
• Ukrainian: співо́чий птах m (spivóčyj ptax)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Volapük: kanitaböd
• Welsh: aderyn canu m, adar canu m pl

Anagrams

• Birdsong, bird song, birdsong