Meanings
- not comparableOf or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds, which are generally anisodactyl, having three toes pointing forward and one back, which facilitates perching.
Antonyms: nonpasserine
- archaicnot comparableapproximately the size of a sparrow.
plural passerines
- Any bird of the order Passeriformes, which comprises more than half of all bird species.
1 more example
If we examine the names of the Orders of Birds, we find that they are in Latin, […] We might venture to anglicize the terminations of the names which Cuvier gives to the divisions of these Orders: thus the Predators are the Diurnals and the Nocturnals; the Passerines are the Dentirostres, the Fissirostres, the Conirostres, the Tenuirostres, and the Syndactyls: the word lustre showing that the former termination is allowable.
1840, William Whewell, “Aphorisms Concerning the Language of Science. Aphorism XVI. In the Composition and Inflexion of Technical Terms, Philological Analogies are to be Preserved if Possible, but Modified According to Scientific Convenience.”, in The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded upon Their History. […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […]; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: J. and J. J. Deighton, →OCLC, paragraph 3, pages cx–cxiSynonyms: passeriform, perching bird · Antonyms: nonpasserine
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveOf or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds, which are generally anisodactyl, having three toes pointing forward and one back, which facilitates perching.
nounAny bird of the order Passeriformes, which comprises more than half of all bird species.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiverelating to or characteristic of the passeriform birds
nounperching birds mostly small and living near the ground with feet having 4 toes arranged to allow for gripping the perch; most are songbirds; hatchlings are helpless
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinpasser“sparrow”
- Frenchpassereaux
- New LatinPasserinae“former order of birds”
- Latinpasserīnus“of or fit for sparrows”
- New Latinpasserinus“bird species”
- Proto-Indo-European*peth₂-“to spread out; to fly (in the sense of spreading out wings)”
- Latinpasser“sparrow”
- New LatinPasser“bird genus”
- Englishpasserine
Adjective sense 1 is borrowed from New Latin Passer (“bird genus”) (from Latin passer (“sparrow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly (in the sense of spreading out wings)”)) + English -ine (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Adjective sense 2 is borrowed from New Latin passerinus (“bird species”) + English -ine. Passerinus is derived from Latin passerīnus (“of or fit for sparrows”), from passer (“sparrow”) (see above) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). The noun is borrowed from New Latin Passerinae (“former order of birds”), a calque of French passereaux, the plural of passereau (“sparrow; passerine (bird of the order Passeriformes)”), from Latin passer (“sparrow”) (see above) + -eau (suffix forming diminutive masculine nouns, specifically the names of young animals). Cognates * French passerin (“sparrowlike”) (obsolete), Provençal French passerine (“passerine whitethroat, a bird from order Passeriformes”)
More words from New Latin, Latin, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian врабчов
- врабчов (vrabčov)of or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds
Catalan passeriforme
- passeriformeany bird of the order Passeriformes
Chinese Mandarin 燕雀的, 燕雀
- 燕雀的 (yànquè de)of or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds
- 燕雀 (yànquè)any bird of the order Passeriformes
Czech pěvec
- pěvecany bird of the order Passeriformes
Dutch zangvogel
- zangvogelany bird of the order Passeriformes
Finnish varpus-, varpuslintu-
- varpus-of or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds
- varpuslintu-of or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds
- varpuslintujenof or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds
- varpusen kokoinenapproximately the size of a sparrow
- varpuslintuany bird of the order Passeriformes
French passerine, passereau
- passerineany bird of the order Passeriformes
- passereauany bird of the order Passeriformes
Hebrew דְּרוֹרִי
- דְּרוֹרִי (drorī)of or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds
Hungarian verébalakú, verébalakú
- verébalakúof or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds
- verébalakúany bird of the order Passeriformes
Icelandic spörfugl
- spörfuglany bird of the order Passeriformes
Indonesian burung pengicau
- burung pengicauany bird of the order Passeriformes
Norwegian Bokmål spurvefugl
- spurvefuglany bird of the order Passeriformes
Polish wróblowaty, wróblowaty
- wróblowatyof or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds
- wróblowatyapproximately the size of a sparrow
- wróblowatyany bird of the order Passeriformes
Portuguese pássaro, passarinho
- pássaroany bird of the order Passeriformes
- passarinhoany bird of the order Passeriformes
Russian воробьинообразные
- воробьинообразные (vorobʹinoobraznyje)of or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds
Spanish paseriforme
- paseriformeany bird of the order Passeriformes
Welsh golfanaidd, golfan
- golfanaiddof or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds
- golfanany bird of the order Passeriformes
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
passerine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/passerine
“passerine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/passerine. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “passerine,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/passerine.
Source: passerine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.