Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
No pronunciation record was provided for this word.
noun
A lesser spotted woodpecker (Dryobates minor).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, regional
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A European green woodpecker (Picus viridis).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, regional
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A blue tit, Cyanistes caeruleus.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, archaic, regional
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
From Middle English hyghwhele; also highwale (1500s) or highawe (1600s). Rarely attested before the sixteenth century, making the original form difficult to trace. Probably imitative of the bird's cry; compare yaffle (“green woodpecker”). Possibly influenced by witwall, woodwall.
