Etymology

fantail

F4A1N1T1A1I1L1

Today it means: Any of several birds, of the genus Rhipidura, from Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Full definition →

translingual Rhipidura
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The story

  1. translingual · calque ofRhipidura
  2. English todayfantail

From fan + tail. The sense of Rhipidura-genus birds is a calque of translingual Rhipidura.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.