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nuthatch

Today it means: Any of various small passerine birds from the genus Sitta, found throughout the northern hemisphere and noted for their unusual proclivity for climbing down trees head first. Full definition →

Middle English nutthache

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The story

Middle English · inherited fromnutthache
English todaynuthatch

From Middle English nutthache, notehache, nuthake, nuttehake, nothak, equivalent to nut + hatch (akin to hack). Compare English nutcracker. Compare typologically Polish kowalik (akin to kować).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.