Meanings
plural redbreasts
- Any of several unrelated birds that have a red breast.
- A European robin, Erithacus rubecula.
I felt comforted by the song of the redbreast, and I thought I felt less lonely and deserted as long as I heard the merry notes of the thrush.
1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 2811 more example
There was a pleasant frosty sun glittering through the twigs of the leafless shrubs, and flashing on the ripples and undulations of the Liffey, and the redbreasts and sparrows were picking up the crumbs which the housekeeper had thrown for them outside.
1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “How a Gentleman Paid a Visit at the Brass Castle, and There Read a Paragraph in an Old Newspaper”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume III, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 17
Synonyms & antonyms
nounsmall Old World songbird with a reddish breast
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishredbreste
- Englishredbreast
From Middle English redbreste, equivalent to red + breast.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch roodborst
- roodborstbird with a red breast
Welsh brongoch, bronrhuddyn
- brongochbird with a red breast
- bronrhuddynbird with a red breast
Cite this entry
redbreast. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/redbreast
“redbreast.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/redbreast. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “redbreast,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/redbreast.
Source: redbreast on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.