Standard Lemma guide

towhee

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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

Pronunciation

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.

  • /ˈtoʊhiː/
  • CMU ARPABET: T OW1 HH IY2 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of several species of birds of the genera Pipilo and Melozone.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

any of numerous long-tailed American finches

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: finch

Narrower terms: chewink, cheewink, Pipilo erythrophthalmus, green-tailed towhee, Chlorura chlorura

History

Etymology

Imitative of the call of the eastern towhee, Pipilo erythrophthalmus.

Across languages

Translations

7 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: طُوهِي (ṭūhī) — bird
  • Cherokee: ᏣᏫᏍᎦ (tsawisga) — bird
  • Czech: pipilo — bird
  • Finnish: pipilo — bird
  • Russian: тауи (taui) — bird
  • Seneca: dzó꞉wi꞉s — bird
  • Spanish: toquí — bird