birdie

Etymology

It is formed from English bird + -ie,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a diminutive;^[7][6][8] the OED analyses it as bird and the suffix -y.^[9] That word goes back to Old English bridd (“young bird, nestling”), a word of uncertain origin.^[2][10] The golf sense is usually traced to the American slang use of bird for anything first-rate,^[6][7] which Etymonline dates to 1839, of an exceptionally clever or accomplished person or thing.^[2] The OED compares the slightly earlier burdie, which is unrelated.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A humorous or familiar name for a girl or young woman: 1720, in W. R. Chetwood's The Stock-jobbers.^[9] As a pet name or child's word for a bird it is recorded from 1768, in Alexander Ross's The Fortunate Shepherdess;^[9][3] Etymonline dates "little bird" to 1792.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In golf, birdie for a hole played in one stroke under par is recorded from 1906, in the Washington Evening Star,^[9] and by 1908 in Etymonline.^[2] A story that Barry Popik quotes from Wikipedia credits it to three golfers at the Atlantic City Country Club in New Jersey in 1899, who called a near-perfect shot "a bird".^(Popik|"Birdie (golf score)", 17 April 2014) The verb, to play a hole one under par, followed in 1921.^[9][3] The shuttlecock of badminton has been called a birdie since 1926, after the earlier bird (1890).^[9] The phrase a little birdie told me, for a source of information one does not name, is recorded from 1881, and watch the birdie, said to people posing for a photograph, from 1911.^[9] American and Irish slang have used birdie for an effeminate man (1932) and for a kiss (1948).^[11]

Timeline

• 1720 – a girl or young woman.^[9]
• 1768 – a pet name for a bird; a little bird.^[9][3] Etymonline dates this sense to 1792.^[2]
• 1881 – a little birdie, an unnamed source of information.^[9]
• 1906 – in golf, a score of one under par on a hole.^[9]
• 1911 – watch the birdie.^[9]
• 1921 – verb, to play a hole one under par.^[9][3]
• 1926 – a shuttlecock.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. In golf, a score of one stroke under par on a hole: He finished the round with two birdies on the back nine.^[12][3][9]
2. (informal) A little bird; a child's word or a pet name for a bird.^[12][3][7]
3. A shuttlecock.^[3][9]
4. An affectionate name for a girl or young woman.^[9][4]
5. a little birdie told me: said of information whose source the speaker will not reveal.^[9]
6. watch the birdie: look at the camera while being photographed.^[9]

Verb

1. In golf, to play a hole in one stroke under par: She birdied the final hole to win the title.^[12][3][9]

Related words

• bird
• birdy

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins