mockingbird · noun — any of various long-tailed American songbirds of the genera Mimus and Melanotis, noted for their ability to mimic calls of other birds.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
mockingbird is pronounced /ˈmɒkɪŋbɜːd/.
Why “mockingbird” is a great word
A long-tailed American songbird noted for its uncanny ability to mimic the calls of other species. From 'mocking' (derisive imitation) + 'bird', first attested 1670–80. Unlike the thrush, celebrated for its own pure, self-authored melody, or the parrot, a captive mimic of human artifice, the mockingbird is a wild archivist of the avian soundscape. It is the crisp mimicry of a cardinal’s whistle at dawn, the scratchy impersonation of a blue jay’s alarm in midday heat, the soft, perfect echo of a hidden wren in twilight—a creature whose entire identity is woven from borrowed songs, leaving us to wonder if there is a true self beneath the magnificent impersonation.
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Etymology
From mocking + bird, from the ability of the birds to mimic sounds and, in some cases, hum as a wake-up call.
noun
- Any of various long-tailed American songbirds of the genera Mimus and Melanotis, noted for their ability to mimic calls of other birds.
- Synonym of tui (“a species of honeyeater, Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae, a bird which is endemic to New Zealand”).
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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