chough

English

red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), in Ireland

Alpine chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus), in Switzerland

Etymology

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

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃʌf/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (Australia, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɐf/

  • Audio (Australia):

    (file)

• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃʊf/
• Rhymes: -ʌf
• Homophone: chuff

Noun

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 Parrot‎^[1], lines 205–210:

     For parot is no churlish Chowgh / nor no f[l]ekyd pye

   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 296, column 2:

     And had not the old-man come in vvith a VVhoo-bub againſt his Daughter, and the Kings Sonne, and ſcar'd my Chovvghes from the Chaffe, I had not left a Purſe aliue in the vvhole Army.

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

• alpine chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus)
• red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)
• white-winged chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos)
• yellow-billed chough

Translations

bird of Pyrrhocorax

• Asturian: choya (ast), chova (ast), cuerva (ast), graya (ast)
• Bulgarian: червенокрака гарга f (červenokraka garga)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 山鴉 / 山鸦 (shānyā)

• Cornish: chogha m, palores f
• Czech: kavče n
• Dutch: alpenkauw (nl) m, alpenkraai (nl) m
• Esperanto: pirokorako
• Finnish: alppivaris (fi)
• French: crave (fr)
• Galician: choia (gl) f
• German: Bergkrähe (de) f
• Hungarian: csóka (hu)
• Irish: cág cosdearg m
• Italian: gracchio (it) m
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: قاژوومەڕە (qajûmerre)

• Persian: زاغ (fa) (zâġ)
• Polish: wrończyk m
• Portuguese: gralha (pt) f
• Russian: клу́шица (ru) f (klúšica)
• Scottish Gaelic: cathag dhearg-chasach f, cathag nan casan dearg f
• Spanish: chova f
• Swedish: alpkråkor (sv) c pl (common name for the genus), alpkaja (sv) c (Pyrrhocorax graculus), alpkråka (sv) c (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)
• Welsh: brân Gernyw f, brân goesgoch f

white-winged chough

• Finnish: mutavaris (fi)
• Polish: skałowron m