aviary

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin aviārium (“a place where birds are kept”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the noun use of the neuter of aviārius (“of birds”),^[3][4][7][8] from avis (“bird”) and the suffix -ārium.^[2][9][10] The Latin word for bird is cognate with Ancient Greek αἰετός (aietós, “eagle”),^[4][9][6] and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *awi- (“bird”).^[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A large cage, building or enclosure in which birds are kept: 1577, in William Harrison's Description of England.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has not changed since the word was borrowed.^[2][10] Johnson (1755) defined it as a place enclosed to keep birds in, with a quotation on the great expense the Italians spent on aviaries of wire with bushes, trees and running water.^[11] Etymonline quotes Isidore of Seville's long-abandoned derivation of avis from via, a way, because birds travel by pathless ways.^[3]

Timeline

• 1577 – a large cage or enclosure for keeping birds.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large cage, building or enclosure in which birds are kept: The zoo's new aviary houses parrots and hornbills.^[7][9][2]

Word family

• aviarist

Related words

• avian
• aviation
• aviator
• auspice
• ostrich
• bustard

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.