ibis

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ibin, also spelled ybyn, with the plural ibes,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin ībis,^[5][6][2] the Middle English form following the Latin accusative.^[2] The Middle English Dictionary adds Old French ibex (plural ibes), in which the bird was confused with the ibex.^[2] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek ἶβις (îbis),^[5][7][8][9] which is from Egyptian hbj.^[4][1] Other dictionaries give the Egyptian name as hby,^[10] hb,^[11] hab,^[7][3][12] heb^[12] or hib;^[9] Partridge sees in the Greek form an alteration of the Egyptian word with a Greek suffix.^[12] Hoad and Weekley only say that it is of Egyptian origin.^[13][8] Compare French ibis, Spanish ibis and Italian ibi.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The bird: 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible (Deuteronomy 14:16), in the list of unclean birds, glossed as "a foule of Nyle flood" that purges itself with its bill.^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

The bird was known to English first from the Bible and travellers' accounts of Egypt: Mandeville (about 1400) says of the Nile that its birds are storks "þat þei clepen Ibes", and the Middle English Dictionary thinks the word may also have meant the stork.^[2] Barnhart calls the ibis a sacred bird of Egypt.^[3] In modern zoology the name covers a whole family of wading birds of warm regions, with long legs and a long, thin, down-curved bill.^[5][14][10] Anglers have used it since 1863 for a kind of artificial fly, and now usually for the red-dyed feather used to make it, and in 1927 it was the name of a fashion colour.^[5] The plural is ibises or ibis; the Latin plurals ibides and ibes are now rare.^[14][10][6]

Timeline

• 1382 – ybyn, the bird, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[5][3][2]
• c. 1400 – the plural ibes.^[3][2]
• 1863 – in angling, an artificial fly, later a red-dyed feather used for it.^[5]
• 1927 – a fashion colour.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of various long-legged wading birds of warm regions, related to the herons and storks, with a long, thin, downward-curving bill: A flock of ibises was feeding on the mudflats.^[14][10][5]
2. (angling) An artificial fly, or a red-dyed feather used in making it.^[5]

Word family

• sacred ibis
• wood ibis

Related words

• ibex

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
13. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins