condor

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkɒndɔː/, /ˈkɒndə/ (UK); /ˈkɑnˌdoɹ/, /ˈkɑndəɹ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish cóndor,^[2][3][4][5] from Quechua kuntur.^{[2][3][6][4][5]}

Earliest recorded meaning

A very large South American vulture (1604 in Barnhart, Merriam-Webster and the OED, c. 1600 in Etymonline).^[3][4][7][6]

Semantic evolution

The name was extended to the related California condor.^[7][4] From the bird figured on them, it was also given to gold coins of some South American countries (1849).^[7][2][5]

Timeline

• 1604 – the bird.^[3][4][7]
• 1849 – a South American gold coin.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Either of two very large New World vultures, the Andean condor and the nearly extinct California condor, with a bare head and neck and dark plumage.
2. A gold coin of some South American countries bearing the figure of a condor.

Word family

• Andean condor
• California condor

Related words

• vulture
• puma
• llama

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press