pelican
pronunciation
How to pronounce pelican in British English:
UK [ˈpelɪkən]
How to pronounce pelican in American English:
US [ˈpɛlɪkən]
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- Noun:
- large long-winged warm-water seabird having a large bill with a distensible pouch for fish
Word Origin
- pelican
- pelican: [OE] Pelican comes via Latin pelicānus from Greek pelekán. This is generally thought to have been derived from pélekus ‘axe’, in allusion to the shape of the pelican’s beak.
- pelican (n.)
- Old English pellicane, from Late Latin pelecanus, from Greek pelekan "pelican" (so used by Aristotle), apparently related to pelekas "woodpecker" and pelekys "ax," perhaps so called from the shape of the bird's bill. Spelling influenced in Middle English by Old French pelican. Used in Septuagint to translate Hebrew qaath. The fancy that it feeds its young on its own blood is an Egyptian tradition properly belonging to some other bird. Louisiana has been known as the Pelican state at least since 1859.
Example
- 1. The pelican was chasing us .
- 2. An unlucky pigeon takes its final look at the world - peeking out from a pelican 's beak .
- 3. Delhi , india : a pelican lands in a pond at the new delhi zoo
- 4. After tropical storm debbie blew over , hahn found only one baby pelican on cat island east .
- 5. In walvis bay , namibia , a pelican would never fail in catching a fish ...... when thrown from a boat .