Meanings
plural skylarks
- A small brown passerine bird, Alauda arvensis, that sings as it flies high into the air.
present singular third person skylarks · participle present skylarking · participle past skylarked · past skylarked
- datedTo jump about joyfully, frolic; to play around, play tricks.
I cherished no malice towards him, though he had been skylarking with me not a little in the matter of my bedfellow.
1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 5
Synonyms & antonyms
nounbrown-speckled European lark noted for singing while hovering at a great height
verbplay boisterously
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Norseleika“to play (as opposed to work)”
- Englishskylark
From sky + lark. Verb sense 1809, originally nautical, possibly influenced by northern English dialectal term lake/laik (“to play”) (from Old Norse leika (“to play (as opposed to work)”)); see lark for details.
More words from Old Norse
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic قُبَّرَة
- قُبَّرَة (qubbara)small brown passerine bird
Bulgarian чучули́га
- чучули́га (čučulíga)small brown passerine bird
Catalan alosa
- alosasmall brown passerine bird
Chinese Mandarin 雲雀 /云雀
- 雲雀 /云雀 (yúnquè)small brown passerine bird
Czech skřivan polní
- skřivan polnísmall brown passerine bird
Danish sanglærke
- sanglærkesmall brown passerine bird
Dutch veldleeuwerik
- veldleeuweriksmall brown passerine bird
Esperanto alaŭdo
- alaŭdosmall brown passerine bird
Estonian pőldlőoke
- pőldlőokesmall brown passerine bird
Finnish kiuru, leivo
- kiurusmall brown passerine bird
- leivosmall brown passerine bird
- leivonensmall brown passerine bird
French alouette des champs
- alouette des champssmall brown passerine bird
German Feldlerche
- Feldlerchesmall brown passerine bird
Hungarian mezei pacsirta, süsétek
- mezei pacsirtasmall brown passerine bird
- süséteksmall brown passerine bird
Icelandic sönglævirki
- sönglævirkismall brown passerine bird
Irish fuiseog, circín starraiceach
- fuiseogsmall brown passerine bird
- circín starraiceachsmall brown passerine bird
Italian allodola, alauda
- allodolasmall brown passerine bird
- alaudasmall brown passerine bird
Japanese 雲雀
- 雲雀 (hibari)small brown passerine bird
Korean 종다리, 노고지리
- 종다리 (jongdari)small brown passerine bird
- 노고지리 (nogojiri)small brown passerine bird
Latin alauda
- alaudasmall brown passerine bird
Latvian lauku cīrulis
- lauku cīrulissmall brown passerine bird
Lithuanian vieversys
- vieversyssmall brown passerine bird
Māori kairaka
- kairakasmall brown passerine bird
Polish skowronek polny
- skowronek polnysmall brown passerine bird
Portuguese cotovia, laverca
- cotoviasmall brown passerine bird
- lavercasmall brown passerine bird
- calandrasmall brown passerine bird
- calhandrasmall brown passerine bird
Romanian ciocârlie
- ciocârliesmall brown passerine bird
Russian жа́воронок
- жа́воронок (žávoronok)small brown passerine bird
Scottish Gaelic uiseag, topag
- uiseagsmall brown passerine bird
- topagsmall brown passerine bird
Slovak škovránok
- škovránoksmall brown passerine bird
Spanish alondra común
- alondra comúnsmall brown passerine bird
Swedish sånglärka
- sånglärkasmall brown passerine bird
Tamil வானம்பாடி
- வானம்பாடி (vāṉampāṭi)small brown passerine bird
Turkish tarla kuşu
- tarla kuşusmall brown passerine bird
Ukrainian жа́йворонок
- жа́йворонок (žájvoronok)small brown passerine bird
Vietnamese chiền chiện
- chiền chiệnsmall brown passerine bird
Welsh ehedydd
- ehedyddsmall brown passerine bird
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with skylark
All rhymes →Cite this entry
skylark. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/skylark
“skylark.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/skylark. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “skylark,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/skylark.
Source: skylark on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.