chough

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English[edit]

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Wikispecies

the red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English choughe, choȝe, coo, cheo, from Old English ċēo (a bird of the genus Corvus, a jay, crow, jackdaw, chough) and ċeahhe (a daw), both from Proto-West Germanic *kahu (jackdaw, crow), from imitative Proto-Indo-European *gewH- (to crow, caw, shout).

Cognate with Scots kae (jackdaw), West Frisian ka (jackdaw), Dutch kauw (jackdaw, daw, chough), Swedish kaja (jackdaw).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

chough (plural choughs)

  1. Either of two species of bird of the genus Pyrrhocorax in the crow family Corvidae that breed mainly in high mountains and on coastal sea cliffs of Eurasia.
    • c. 1521, John Skelton, Speke Parott:
      For parot is no churlish Chowgh, nor no flekyd pye
      Parrot is no pendugum, that men call a carlyng
      Parrot is no woodecocke, nor no butterfly
      Parrot is no stameryng stare, yt men call a starlyng
      But Parot is my owne dere harte, & my dere derlĩg
  2. The white-winged chough, of genus Corcorax in the Australian mud-nest builders family, Corcoracidae, that inhabits dry woodlands.
    Synonym: hermit-crow

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]