jackdaw

Meaning

1. A European bird (Coloeus monedula) of the crow family, often nesting in church towers and ruins.
2. A Daurian jackdaw, a closely related Asian bird (Coloeus dauuricus).

Synonyms

daw

raven

magpie

rook

Corvus monedula

jackdaw's

jay

pie

🥧

chough

Hyphenated as

jack‧daw

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈdʒækˌdɔː/

Etymology

Cognate with Prussian: doacke

Cognate with Latin: faccilāre

Cognate with German: Dohle

In summary

Compound of jack + daw. The first element, also present in Low German (North Saxon) Jöker (“jackdaw”), may refer either to its characteristic call, often represented as tchak-tchak, maybe influenced by association with the name Jack. The second element means “jackdaw” in itself, from Old English *dāwe, from Proto-Germanic *dēhǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰēk- (“a daw, starling, thrush, similar birds”). Cognate with Old Prussian doacke (“starling”), Latin faccilāre (“the sound or timbre of the thrush”), and German Dohle (“jackdaw”).