chaffinch

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   small European finch with a cheerful song

2. 2
   noun

   A small passerine bird, Fringilla coelebs, of the finch family, found throughout Europe and eastward to Iran and eastern Mediterranean coastlands.

From Middle English chaffynch, chaffynche, caffynche, equivalent to chaff + finch. However, more recently the first element has been argued to derive from the same root as Old English cæfed (“ornamented”) and cæfing (“hair-ornament”), thus meaning "ornamented finch, colourful finch".

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