starling
pronunciation
How to pronounce starling in British English:
UK [ˈstɑ:lɪŋ]
How to pronounce starling in American English:
US [ˈstɑrlɪŋ]
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- Noun:
- gregarious birds native to the Old World
Word Origin
- starling
- starling: [OE] Starling is a diminutive form. The original Old English name of the bird was stær, which together with German star, Swedish stare, and Danish stær goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *staraz. This was related to Latin sturnus ‘starling’.
- starling (n.)
- "Sturnus vulgaris," Old English stærlinc "starling," with diminutive suffix -linc + stær "starling," from Proto-Germanic *staraz (cognates: Old English stearn, Old Norse stari, Norwegian stare, Old High German stara, German star "starling"), from PIE *storo- "starling" (cognates: Latin sturnus "starling," Old Prussian starnite "gull").
Example
- 1. The starling is now one of america 's commonest birds .
- 2. Prior work by this team and others suggests that sheep , monkeys , pigs and a bird ( the starling ) also appear to either be optimists or pessimists .
- 3. Agent starling , how did you track buffalo bill here ?
- 4. Studies into starling behaviour have found that it may even be similar to human herding instincts , particularly on occasions when a group is under threat .
- 5. Even as an ardent birdwatcher , I 'll confess that a single starling is a rather drab sight .