lark

See also Lark

English

A Crested lark, of the Alaudidae family

Alternative forms

• laverock, lavrock

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: läk, IPA: /lɑːk/, SAMPA: /lA:k/
• (US) enPR: lärk, IPA: /lɑːɹk/, SAMPA: /lA:rk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(r)k

Etymology 1

From Middle English larke, laverke, from Old English lāwerce, lǣwerce, lāuricæ, from Proto-Germanic *laiwazikōn (compare West Frisian dialect larts, Dutch leeuwerik, German Lerche), from *laiwaz (borrowed into Finnish leivo, Estonian lõo).

Noun

lark (plural larks)

1. Any of various small, singing passerine birds of the family Alaudidae.
2. Any of various resembling birds, usually ground-living, such as the meadowlark and titlark
3. One who wakes early; one who is up with the larks.

Synonyms

• (one who wakes early): early bird, early riser

Related terms

• happy as a lark
• larker
• larkspur, plant
• skylark, the bird

Translations

bird

Albanian: lauresha (sq) Arabic: قبّرة (ar) (qúbbara) f. Armenian: արտույտ (hy) (artuyt) Belarusian: жаваранак (be) Bosnian: ševa (bs) f. Breton: alc'hweder (br) Bulgarian: чучулига (bg) Catalan: alosa (ca) f. Chinese: Mandarin: 雲雀 (zh), 云雀 (zh) (yúnquè) Croatian: ševa (hr) Czech: skřivan (cs) m. Danish: lærke (da) c. Dutch: leeuwerik (nl) m. Esperanto: (♂♀) alaŭdo (eo), (♂) viralaŭdo (eo), (♀) alaŭdino (eo), (♂♀ offspring, young) alaŭdido (eo) Estonian: lőoke (et) Finnish: kiuru (fi), leivo (fi) French: alouette (fr) f. Friulian: lodule, odule Galician: laverca (gl) f. German: Lerche (de) f. Greek: σταρήθρα (el) Hungarian: pacsirta (hu) Icelandic: lævirki (is) m. Irish: fuiseog (ga) f., circín starraiceach (ga) m. Italian: allòdola (it) f., lòdola (it) f., allodola (it) f. Japanese: 雲雀 (ja) (ひばり, hibari) Korean: 종다리 (ko) (jongdari), 노고지리 (ko) (nogojiri) Kurdish: کڵاوکوره‌ (ku) Ladino: lodola f. Latin: alauda (la) f. Latvian: cīrulis (lv)

Lithuanian: vieversys (lt) m., vyturys (lt) m. Low German (Low Saxon): Lark (nds) f., Leerk (nds) f., Levark (nds) f., Lauerk (nds) f., Leving (nds) f., Levalk (nds) f., Lierk (nds) f., Lurk (nds) f. Macedonian: чучулига (mk) (čučuliga) Maltese: alwetta (mt) Northern Sami: leivvoš Norwegian: Bokmål: lerke (no) f. and m. Nynorsk: lerke (nn) f. Occitan: alauseta (oc) Old English: lāferce (ang) f. Old Norse: lævirki m. Polish: skowronek (pl) m. Portuguese: cotovia f. Romani: chirikli-gilibani, chiriklo-gilibano m. Romanian: ciocârlie (ro) f., ciocârlii (ro) f. pl. Romansch: lodola (rm) f. Russian: жаворонок (ru) (žávoronok) m. Sardinian: allòdola (sc) Scots: laverock Scottish Gaelic: uiseag (gd) f. Serbian: Cyrillic: шева (sr) f., шевpљугa (sr) f. Roman: ševa (sr) f., ševrljuga (sr) f. Slovak: škovránok (sk) Slovene: škrjanec (sl) m. Sorbian: Upper Sorbian: škowrončk (hsb) Spanish: alondra (es) f. Swedish: lärka (sv) c. Ukrainian: жайворонок польовий (uk) Volapük: (♂♀) laud (vo), (♂) hilaud (vo), (♀) jilaud (vo), (♂♀ offspring, young) laudül (vo), (♀ offspring, young) hilaudül (vo), (♀ offspring, young) jilaudül (vo) Welsh: ehedydd (cy)

one who wakes early

Dutch: vroege vogel (nl) m. Finnish: aamuvirkku (fi) French: lève-tôt (fr) m. Hungarian: koránkelő (hu)

Italian: mattiniero (it) m. Lithuanian: vyturys (lt) m., vyturys (lt) m. Romanian: persoană matinală (ro) f. Spanish: madrugador (es) m. Swedish: lärka (sv) c.

External links

• lark on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Alaudidae on Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Commons: Alaudidae
• Alaudidae on Wikispecies. Wikispecies: Alaudidae

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain, either

• from (notably northern) English dialect lake/laik (“to play”) (c.1300, from Old Norse leika (“to play (as opposed to work)”)), with intrusive -r- common in southern British dialect; or
• shortening of skylark (1809), sailors' slang, "play roughly in the rigging of a ship", because the common European larks were proverbial for high-flying; Dutch has a similar idea in speelvogel (“playbird, a person of markedly playful nature”).

Noun

lark (plural larks)

1. A romp, frolic, some fun.
2. A prank.

Synonyms

• whim, especially in phrase on a whim

Derived terms

• on a lark

Translations

romp, frolic, some fun

Dutch: gedol n.

Russian: забава (ru) f.

prank

Dutch: vlerkenstreek

Russian: шутка (ru) f., проказа (ru) f.

Verb

lark (third-person singular simple present larks, present participle larking, simple past and past participle larked)

1. To sport, engage in harmless pranking
2. To frolic, engage in carefree adventure

Translations

sport, engage in harmless pranking

Dutch: dollen (nl)

frolic, engage in carefree adventure

Dutch: stoeien (nl)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Bosnian: šala f s Finnish: pilailla, kujeilla, kuje, pila, hullutus

Serbian: Cyrillic: шала f s Roman: šala f s

References

• “lark” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001
• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Anagrams

• Karl