Etymology

ibis

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Today it means: Any of various long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, having long downcurved bills used to probe the mud for prey such as crustaceans. Full definition →

Latin ībis ← Ancient Greek ἶβις ← Egyptian h-b-G26
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The story

  1. Egyptian · derived fromh-b-G26
  2. Ancient Greek · derived fromἶβις
  3. Latin · derived fromībis
  4. English todayibis

Mentioned in the Wycliffe Bible (Lev. 11:17) as ybyn or ibin, as ibys from 16th century and ibis shortly after. From Latin ībis, from Ancient Greek ἶβις (îbis), from Egyptian h-b-G26 (hbj) (compare Coptic ϩⲓⲃⲱⲓ (hibōi) or ϩⲓⲡ (hip)).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.