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.
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adj
Of or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds, which are generally anisodactyl (“having three toes pointing forward and one back, which facilitates perching”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: nonpasserine
adj
Chiefly in the former names of some birds: approximately the size of a sparrow.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, not-comparable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Any bird of the order Passeriformes, which comprises more than half of all bird species.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: passeriform
Antonyms: nonpasserine
adjective
relating to or characteristic of the passeriform birds
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: nonpasserine
noun
perching birds mostly small and living near the ground with feet having 4 toes arranged to allow for gripping the perch; most are songbirds; hatchlings are helpless
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: passeriform bird
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: bird
Narrower terms: oscine, oscine bird, sparrow, true sparrow, lyrebird, scrubbird, scrub-bird, scrub bird, broadbill, tyrannid, wren, jenny wren
History
Adjective sense 1 is borrowed from New Latin Passer (“bird genus”) (from Latin passer (“sparrow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peth2- (“to spread out; to fly (in the sense of spreading out wings)”)) + English -ine (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Adjective sense 2 is borrowed from New Latin passerinus (“bird species”) + English -ine. Passerinus is derived from Latin passerīnus (“of or fit for sparrows”), from passer (“sparrow”) (see above) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). The noun is borrowed from New Latin Passerinae (“former order of birds”), a calque of French passereaux, the plural of passereau (“sparrow; passerine (bird of the order Passeriformes)”), from Latin passer (“sparrow”) (see above) + -eau (suffix forming diminutive masculine nouns, specifically the names of young animals). Cognates * French passerin (“sparrowlike”) (obsolete), Provençal French passerine (“passerine whitethroat, a bird from order Passeriformes”)
Across languages
36 source translations are retained for this English entry.
