Etymology

oriole

O1R1I1O1L1E1

Today it means: Any of various colourful passerine birds, New World orioles of the genus Icterus (family Icteridae) and Old World orioles of the family Oriolidae. Full definition →

Middle French oriol ← Old French oriol ← Latin aureolus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromaureolus
  2. Old French · derived fromoriol
  3. Middle French · borrowed fromoriol
  4. English todayoriole

A borrowing from Middle French oriol, from Old French oriol, from Latin aureolus, diminutive of aureus (“golden”). Doublet of aureole. First use appears c. 1776 in the writings of Thomas Pennant.

Words from the same roots

Old Frenchoriol all →

oriel

Latinaureolus all →

orielaureolin

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.