Etymology

mavis

M3A1V4I1S1

Today it means: song thrush Full definition →

Middle English mavys ← Anglo-Norman mauvis ← Old French mauvis
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

mavis · noun1

  1. Old French · derived frommauvis“song thrush”
  2. Anglo-Norman · derived frommauvis
  3. Middle English · inherited frommavys
  4. English todaymavis

From Middle English mavys, from Anglo-Norman mauvis, from Old French mauvis (“song thrush”).

Mavis · proper noun2

Coined at the end of the 19th century from mavis, a poetical name for the song thrush.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.