drongo

drongo · noun¹

1. Malagasy · borrowed fromdrongo
2. English todaydrongo

From Malagasy drongo.

drongo · noun²

From an Australian racehorse named Drongo, apparently after the bird (specifically, after the spangled drongo, Dicrurus bracteatus). The horse (foaled 1920, retired 1925) never won a race, and by transference anyone slow-witted or clumsy became a drongo. * Alternatively, from putative RAAF slang drongo (a recruit), similarly after the bird. * Another suggested derivation is the Scottish Gaelic drongair (“drunkard”).