bird English · revision 4068

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|formation=inherited|attested=c. 750}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /bɜːd/, US /bɝːd/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|brid]], bird,^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) [[inh|ang|bridd|t=young bird, nestling]], with a rare form bird,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) of unknown or uncertain origin, with no corresponding form in any other Germanic language.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021) A connection with [[brood]] and [[breed]] is rejected by the OED as quite inadmissible.^(Etymonline) The metathesis of -r- and -i- was complete by the 15th century;^(Etymonline) brid was the main form until the later 1400s.^(Barnhart 1988) Liberman argues that bird need not come from bridd by metathesis, and derives it, by a now rejected etymology that he thinks the best available, from the root of Old English beran “to give birth” with a suffix -d.^(Liberman 2008)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old English bridd, a young bird: probably about 750, in the Phoenix, according to Barnhart,^(Barnhart 1988) before 800 in the OED.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The usual Old English word for a bird was fugol, modern [[fowl]];^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) as fowl came to mean chiefly poultry, the word for the young took over the general sense.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) The OED has “any feathered vertebrate” from before 1225,^(OED 1989) but up to about 1400 bird still often meant a nestling or chick, and also the young of other animals and children.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) A man, a fellow, is from 1799,^(Cresswell 2021) and a prisoner from 1580.^(HTOED) In Middle English a separate burd, also spelled bird, meant a maiden or lady, and was confused with this word;^(Cresswell 2021)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) the modern British slang for a young woman is recorded from 1838 in the New Partridge and 1915 in Etymonline, and appears to be a revival.^(Dalzell 2013)^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) ''A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush'' is first recorded in the mid-15th century,^(Cresswell 2021) and ''birds of a feather flock together'' a century later.^(Cresswell 2021) ''To give someone the bird'', to boo or jeer, comes from early 19th-century theatre slang ''the big bird'', the hissing goose;^(Cresswell 2021)^(Etymonline) it was transferred in the 1960s to the rude finger gesture.^(Etymonline) ''Doing bird'', serving a prison sentence, is from rhyming slang ''birdlime'' “time”.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 750 – a young bird.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * a. 1225 – any bird.^(OED 1989)

+ * mid-15th century – ''a bird in the hand''.^(Cresswell 2021)

+ * 1799 – a man, a fellow.^(Cresswell 2021)

+ * 1838 – a young woman.^(Dalzell 2013)

+ * 1960s – the rude gesture.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A warm-blooded, egg-laying, feathered vertebrate with forelimbs developed as [[wing]]s.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Such an animal hunted as game, or served as food.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(informal)'' A person, especially an odd one: ''a strange old bird''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(chiefly British slang)'' A young woman.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(slang)'' An obscene gesture of contempt made with the middle finger.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(British slang)'' Time spent in prison.^(Cresswell 2021)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To observe and identify wild birds in their natural surroundings.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To trap or shoot birds.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[birding]]

+ * [[birdlike]]

+ * [[birdless]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fowl]]

+ * [[burd]]

+ * [[birdlime]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}