lark

See also Lark

English

A Crested lark, of the Alaudidae family

Alternative forms

• laverock, lavrock

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: läk, IPA: /lɑːk/, X-SAMPA: /lA:k/
• (US) enPR: lärk, IPA: /lɑːɹk/, X-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 dialectal West Frisian 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 similar-appearing birds, but 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

Hyponyms

• (species in Alaudidae): woodlark, skylark, magpie-lark, horned lark, sea lark, crested lark, shorelark

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) (žavaranak)
• Breton: alc'hweder (br)
• Bulgarian: чучулига (bg) (čučuliga)
• Catalan: alosa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雲雀 (cmn), 云雀 (cmn) (yúnquè)

• 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) (staríthra)
• 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:

  Sorani: کڵاوکوره‌ (ku)

• Ladino: lodola f
• Latin: alauda (la) f
• Latvian: cīrulis (lv)
• Lithuanian: vieversys (lt) m, vyturys (lt) m
• Low German:

  German Low German: Lark (nds-de) f, Lurk (nds) f, Lörk (nds-de) f, Lörke (nds-de) f, Lerke (nds-de) f; Lewark (nds-de) f, Levark (nds-de) f, Levalk (nds-de) f, Lewrik (nds-de) f, Lewrink (nds-de) 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) f
• Old English: lāferce (ang) f
• Old Norse: lævirki m
• Persian: چکاوک (fa) (čakâvak)
• Polish: skowronek (pl) m
• Portuguese: cotovia (pt) f
• Romani: chirikli-gilibani, chiriklo-gilibano m
• Romanian: ciocârlie (ro) f
• Romansch: lodola (rm) f
• Russian: жаворонок (ru) (žávoronok) m
• Sardinian: allòdola (sc)
• Scots: laverock
• Scottish Gaelic: uiseag (gd) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: шева (sh) f, шевpљугa (sh) f

  Roman: ševa (sh) f, ševrljuga (sh) 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) (žajvoronok polʹovyj)
• Vietnamese: chim chiền chiện (vi)
• 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
• German: Frühaufsteher (de) m, Frühaufsteher (de) m, Lerche (de) f
• 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

Verb

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

1. To catch larks.

   to go larking

External links

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

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain, either

• from a northern English dialectal term lake/laik (“to play”) (around 1300, from Old Norse leika (“to play (as opposed to work)”)), with an intrusive -r- as is common in southern British dialects; or
• a 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.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Charles Dickens to this entry?)

2. A prank.

Synonyms

• whim, especially in phrase on a whim

Derived terms

• on a lark

Translations

romp, frolic, some fun

• Dutch: gedol (nl) n
• Finnish: hullutus (fi)

• Russian: забава (ru) (zabava) f

prank

• Dutch: vlerkenstreek (nl)
• Finnish: pila (fi), kuje (fi)

• Russian: шутка (ru) (šutka) f, проказа (ru) (prokaza) 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)
• Finnish: pilailla (fi), kujeilla (fi)

frolic, engage in carefree adventure

• Dutch: stoeien (nl)
• Finnish: hullutella (fi), toilailla (fi)

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

• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: шала f s

  Roman: šala f s

References

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

Anagrams

• Karl