popinjay

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a vain, conceited person, especially one given to showy dress or chatter

   The strutting popinjay bored everyone with talk of his own brilliance.

Simplified etymology

Popinjay was the original common English term for a parrot. It entered Middle English from French papingay, which came through Spanish from Arabic babbaġā, perhaps an imitation of the bird’s cry; the French ending was reshaped to resemble jay. In the early 16th century the word also came to mean a conceited or vain person.

From Old French papegai ('parrot'), via Spanish papagayo, ultimately from Arabic babbaga ('parrot'). The vain-person sense draws on the parrot's gaudy plumage and chatter.

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