kestrel
English
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Common_Kestrel_1.jpg/220px-Common_Kestrel_1.jpg)
Etymology
[edit]From Middle English castrel (“staniel, bird of prey”), from Middle French cresserelle, crecerelle (“bird of prey”), usually assumed to be from crecelle (“rattle, wooden reel”) (modern crécelle), of obscure origin.
Cognates possibly include: Medieval Latin clisterella f, French crécerelle f and cristel m, Neapolitan castariello m and crestariello m, all sharing the same meaning.
Derivation from the assumed Vulgar Latin *crepicella, *crepitacillum, a diminutive of crepitāculum, from crepitāre (“to crackle”) is difficult to explain from a morphological point of view.
Instead, possibly from a root *krek-, *krak- (“to crack, rattle, creak, emit a bird cry”), from Middle Dutch crāken (“to creak, crack”), from Old Dutch *krakōn (“to crack, creak, emit a cry”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną (“to emit a cry, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerg- (“to shout”). Cognate with Old High German krahhōn (“to make a sound, crash”), Old English cracian (“to resound”), French craquer (“to emit a repeated cry, used of birds”). More at creak, crack.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]kestrel (plural kestrels)
- Any of various small falcons of the genus Falco that hover while hunting.
- 1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native, book 3 chapter 6:
- When she was musing she was a kestrel, which hangs in the air by an invisible motion of its wings.
- 1917, John Masefield, Up on the Downs:
- Up on the downs the red-eyed kestrels hover,
Eyeing the grass.
The field mouse flits like a shadow into cover
As their shadows pass.
- The common kestrel, Falco tinnunculus.
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]- American kestrel (Falco sparverius)
- banded kestrel (Falco zoniventris)
- common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
- Dickinson's kestrel (Falco dickinsoni)
- fox kestrel (Falco alopex)
- greater kestrel (Falco rupicoloides)
- grey kestrel (Falco ardosiaceus)
- lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni)
- Malagasy kestrel (Falco newtoni)
- Mauritius kestrel (Falco punctatus)
- Nankeen kestrel (Falco cenchroides)
- Seychelles kestrel (Falco araeus)
- spotted kestrel (Falco moluccensis)
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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Further reading
[edit]kestrel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
kestrel (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
[edit]- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Middle Dutch
- English terms derived from Old Dutch
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɛstɹəl
- Rhymes:English/ɛstɹəl/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Falconids