Etymology

redstart

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Today it means: Any of various insectivorous ground-feeding birds, mainly of the genus Phoenicurus. Many of the species have a red tail. Full definition →

Middle English *redstert
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited from*redstert
  2. English todayredstart

Inherited from Middle English *redstert; equivalent to red + start (“tail”). Compare Dutch roodstaart, Danish rødstjert.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.