bittern

English

great bittern
(Botaurus stellaris)

little bittern
(Ixobrychus minutus)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɪtən/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

  • Homophones: bitten, Bitterne
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɪtəɹn/
• Rhymes: -ɪtə(ɹ)n

Etymology 1

From Middle English bitour, botor, from Old French butor, from Gallo-Roman *butitaurus, a blend of Latin būtiō (“bittern”) and taurus (“bull, ox”).

Noun

bittern (plural bitterns)

1. Several bird species in the Botaurinae subfamily of the heron family Ardeidae.
   • 1819, Washington Irving, The Sketch Book, Rip Van Winkle:

     It is a great rock or cliff on the loneliest part of the mountains, and […] is known by the name of the Garden Rock. Near the foot of it is a small lake, the haunt of the solitary bittern, with water-snakes basking in the sun on the leaves of the pond-lilies which lie on the surface.

Derived terms

terms derived from bittern (bird)

• forest bittern, Zonerodius heliosylus
• Eurasian bittern, Botaurus stellaris
• Australasian bittern, Botaurus poiciloptilus
• American bittern, Botaurus lentiginosus
• pinnated bittern, Botaurus pinnatus
• stripe-backed bittern, Ixobrychus involucris
• least bittern, Ixobrychus exilis
• little bittern, Ixobrychus minutus
• New Zealand bittern, Ixobrychus novaezelandiae
• yellow bittern, Ixobrychus sinensis
• Von Schrenck's bittern, Ixobrychus eurhythmus
• cinnamon bittern, Ixobrychus cinnamomeus
• dwarf bittern, Ixobrychus sturmii
• black bittern, Dupetor flavicollis
• common bittern
• sun bittern, sun-bittern

Translations

bird of the subfamily Botaurinae

• Armenian: ջրցուլ (hy) (ǰrcʿul)
• Belarusian: буга́й (buháj)
• Breton: bongorz (br) m
• Bulgarian: голям воден бик (goljam voden bik)
• Czech: bukač (cs) m
• Danish: rørdrum (da)
• Dhivehi: ރާބޮނދި‎ (rāboⁿdi)
• Dutch: roerdomp (nl) m
• Egyptian: (kꜣpw)
• Esperanto: botaŭro
• Finnish: kaulushaikara (fi) (Botaurus), pikkuhaikara (fi) (Ixobrychus), nokihaikara (fi) (Zebrilus)
• French: butor (fr) m
• Galician: abetouro (gl) m
• German: Dommel f, Rohrdommel (de)
• Greenlandic: qarluutitoornaq
• Hungarian: bölömbika (hu)
• Ido: butoro (io)
• Irish: bonnán (ga) m
• Italian: tarabuso (it)
• Japanese: さんかのごい (sankanogoi), にがり (ja) (kogari)
• Korean: 알락해오라기 (allakhae'oragi)
• Latin: butio m
• Latvian: dumpis m
• Lithuanian: baublys (lt) m
• Low German: Rohrdump f, Rohrdumm f
• Maori: kautuku, matuku
• Old English: rāredumle f
• Polish: bąk (pl) m
• Portuguese: abetouro
• Romanian: bâtlan-de-stuf m, buhai-de-baltă (ro) m, bou-de-baltă (ro) m
• Russian: выпь (ru) f (vypʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: corra-ghrian f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: букач m

  Roman: bukač (sh) m

• Spanish: avetoro (es) m (Botaurus), avetorillo m (Ixobrychus)
• Swedish: rördrom (sv)
• Ukrainian: бугай (uk) m (buhaj)
• Volapük: botur (vo)
• Welsh: adar y bwn m pl, bwm y gors m

See also

• bittern on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Appendix: Animals
• Appendix:English collective nouns
• bumble

Etymology 2

From bitter with an unclear suffix, perhaps a dialect form of -ing.

Noun

bittern (uncountable)

1. The liquor remaining after halite (common salt) has been harvested from saline water (brine).
2. The saline substance added to soy milk to coagulate it as a primary step in the production of tofu.
   • 2019, “The Secrets of Tofu across Japan”, in Seasoning the Seasons‎^[1], NHK World-Japan:

     Now we add the bittern.

3. (archaic) A very bitter compound of quassia, cocculus indicus, etc., used by fraudulent brewers in adulterating beer.

Translations

salt substance used in tofu

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鹽滷 (zh), 盐卤 (zh) (yánlǔ)

• Japanese: 苦汁 (にがり, nigari), 滷汁 (にがり, nigari)
• Korean: 간수 (ko) (gansu)

Anagrams

• Bittner, Britten