Papagei

German

Etymology

From Middle High German papegei, from Old French papegai, from Old Spanish papagayo, from Byzantine Greek παπαγάς (papagás), from Arabic بَبَّغَاء (babbaḡāʔ). Further origin unknown, perhaps from an African language or imitative. The Middle High German variant papegān may have been borrowed directly from Byzantine Greek during the Crusades; compare modern Turkish papağan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /papaˈɡaɪ̯/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Pa‧pa‧gei
• Rhymes: -aɪ̯

Noun

Papagei m (mixed or weak or strong, genitive Papageis or (less common) Papageien, plural Papageien or (rare) Papageie)

1. parrot

   ein sprechender Papagei ― a talking parrot

Usage notes

• The word may be declined according to the strong or the weak pattern. Strong declension prevails considerably in both spoken and written German. The genitive (des) Papageien is somewhat more competitive than the other weak forms, but is still fairly rare.

Declension

Declension of Papagei [masculine, mixed // weak // strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Papagei	die	Papageien, Papageie2
genitive	eines	des	Papageis, Papageien1	der	Papageien, Papageie2
dative	einem	dem	Papagei, Papageien1	den	Papageien
accusative	einen	den	Papagei, Papageien1	die	Papageien, Papageie2

¹Less common.
²Rare.

Hyponyms

• Altweltpapagei
• Ara
• Bergpapagei
• Buntschwanzpapagei
• Goldbugpapagei
• Graupapagei
• Kakadu
• Langflügelpapagei
• Lori
• Neuweltpapagei
• Sittich
• Zwergpapagei

Hyponyms

• Papageienvogel
• Vogel

Related terms

• Papageienart
• Papageienschnabel
• Papageitaucher

See also

• wie ein Papagei nachplappern (“to repeat things parrot-fashion”)

Further reading

• “Papagei” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Papagei” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
• “Papagei” in Duden online

Luxembourgish

Etymology

Borrowed from German Papagei.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɑpɑˈɡɑɪ̯/

Noun

Papagei m (plural Papageien)

1. parrot