sparrow

Meaning

1. The house sparrow, Passer domesticus; a small bird with a short bill, and brown, white and gray feathers.
2. A member of the family Passeridae, comprising small Old World songbirds.
3. A member of the family Passerellidae (or Emberizidae, under classification systems that subsume the New World sparrows under Emberizidae), comprising small New World songbirds.
4. Generically, any small, nondescript bird.
5. (London, UK) A quick-witted, lively person.

Synonyms

bird

🐦

dunnock

true sparrow

hedge sparrow

bunting

house sparrow

swallow

Prunella modularis

Passer

small person

genus Passer

English sparrow

mossie

common sparrow

accentor

spuggy

canary

finch

house-sparrow

little bird

nuthatch

penis

wild goose

Translations

moineau

gorrión

Sperling

passero

Spatz

mus

pardal

pardal

serçe

σπουργίτης

passer

Passer

passerat

passereau

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈspæɹəʊ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: sparwe

Inherited from Old English: spearwa

Cognate with Dutch: spreeuw

Cognate with Swiss German: Spar

Cognate with German: Sperling

Cognate with Danish: -

Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål: spurv

Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk: sporv

Cognate with Swedish: sparv

Cognate with Breton: frao

Cognate with Tokharian A: spārāñ

Cognate with Ancient Greek: ψάρ

In summary

From Middle English sparwe, sparowe, from Old English spearwa, from Proto-West Germanic *sparwō, from Proto-Germanic *sparwô, from Proto-Indo-European *spḗr (“sparrow”).
Cognate with Dutch spreeuw (“starling”), Alemannic German Spar (“sparrow”), German Sperling (“sparrow”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål spurv (“sparrow”), Norwegian Nynorsk sporv (“sparrow”), Swedish sparv (“sparrow”), Breton frao (“crow”), Tocharian A ṣpārāñ, Ancient Greek ψάρ (psár, “starling”).