Etymology

shrike

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Today it means: Any of various passerine birds of the family Laniidae which are known for their habit of catching other birds and small animals and impaling the uneaten portions of their bodies on thorns. Full definition →

Middle English *schrike ← Old English sċrīc
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromsċrīc“shrike, thrush”
  2. Middle English · inherited from*schrike
  3. English todayshrike

From Middle English *schrike, *schryke, from Old English sċrīc (“shrike, thrush”), from the same root as shriek and screech, named after the bird's cry. Compare Icelandic skríkja (“shrieker, shrike”), Swedish skrika (“jay”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.