Meanings
thrush1
plural thrushes
- Any of numerous species of songbirds of the cosmopolitan family Turdidae, such as the song thrush, mistle thrush, bluebird, and American robin.
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 281 - UScolloquialA female singer.
thrush2
plural thrushes
- A fungal infection caused by species of genus Candida, affecting the mouth or vagina; candidiasis.
Cervical cancer and recurrent vaginal thrush are both strongly linked to the presence of HIV in women.
1991 August 24, Dawn Schmitz, “AIDS Redefined In 1992?”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 6, page 6Synonyms: candidiasis
Thrush3
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA fungal infection caused by species of genus Candida, affecting the mouth or vagina; candidiasis.
Origin
thrush · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*trosdos“thrush”
- Proto-Germanic*þrauskǭ
- Old Englishþræsċe
- Proto-Germanic*þruskō
- Proto-Germanic*þruskijǭ
- Old Englishþrysċe
- Middle Englishthrusche
- Englishthrush
From Middle English thrusche, þrusch, þresche, from a combination of Old English þrysċe (from Proto-Germanic *þruskijǭ, a diminutive of Proto-Germanic *þruskō) and Old English þræsċe (from Proto-Germanic *þrauskǭ and/or *þrastuz); all from Proto-Indo-European *trosdos (“thrush”). Cognate with German Drossel, Old Norse þrǫstr, Latin turdus, Lithuanian strazdas (“thrush”), Middle Irish truid, Welsh drudwy (“starling”), Old Church Slavonic дрозгъ (drozgŭ), Russian дрозд (drozd).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →thrush · noun
Uncertain, though likely not related to the "bird" sense of Etymology 1; perhaps compare Icelandic þröstur, Danish torsk, Norwegian trøske. Perhaps also related to Old French fourchette (“frog of a horse's hoof”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans lyster
- lysterone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Ancient Greek κίχλη
- κίχλη (kíkhlē)one of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Arabic دُجّ
- دُجّ (dujj)one of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Bulgarian дрозд, млечница
- дрозд (drozd)one of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- млечница (mlečnica)fungal infection
Catalan tord
- tordone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Chinese Mandarin 鶇 /鸫, 念珠菌症
- 鶇 /鸫 (dōng)one of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- 念珠菌症 (niànzhūjūnzhèng)fungal infection
Czech drozd, kandidóza
- drozdone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- kandidózafungal infection
- poševní kvasinková infekcefungal infection
Danish drossel, trøske
- drosselone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- trøskefungal infection
Dutch lijster, spruw
- lijsterone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- spruwfungal infection
Esperanto turdo
- turdoone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Estonian rästas
- rästasone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Finnish rastas, laulajatar
- rastasone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- laulajatarwoman who sings popular songs
- hiivasienitulehdusfungal infection
French grive, muguet
- griveone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- muguetfungal infection
- mycose vaginalefungal infection
German Drossel, Soor
- Drosselone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- Soorfungal infection
- Soormykosefungal infection
- Strahlfäulefungal infection
Greek τσίχλα, άφτρα
- τσίχλα (tsíchla)one of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- άφτρα (áftra)fungal infection
Hebrew קִיכְלִי
- קִיכְלִי (qichlí)one of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Hungarian rigó, szájpenész
- rigóone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- szájpenészfungal infection
- hüvelygombafungal infection
- candida-fertőzésfungal infection
Icelandic þröstur
- þrösturone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Irish smólach, salachar béil
- smólachone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- salachar béilfungal infection
Italian tordo, mughetto
- tordoone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- mughettofungal infection
- candidafungal infection
- candidosifungal infection
Japanese 鶇
- 鶇 (tsugumi)one of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Korean 지빠귀
- 지빠귀 (jippagwi)one of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Latin turdus
- turdusone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Latvian strazds
- strazdsone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Lithuanian strãzdas
- strãzdasone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Norwegian Bokmål trost
- trostone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Polish drozd, pleśniawka
- drozdone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- pleśniawkafungal infection
- drożdżycafungal infection
Portuguese tordo, sabiá
- tordoone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- sabiáone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- sapinhosfungal infection
- cândidafungal infection
Romanian sturz
- sturzone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Russian дрозд, певи́чка
- дрозд (drozd)one of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- певи́чка (pevíčka)woman who sings popular songs
- моло́чница (molóčnica)fungal infection
- кандидо́з (kandidóz)fungal infection
Scottish Gaelic smeòrach
- smeòrachone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Slovak drozd, kandidóza
- drozdone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- kandidózafungal infection
Spanish tordo, mirlo
- tordoone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- mirloone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- zorzalone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- sapitofungal infection
- algodoncillofungal infection
Swedish trast, torsk
- trastone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- torskfungal infection
Tagalog pipit-tulog
- pipit-tulogone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Turkish kandidiyaz, kandidoz
- kandidiyazfungal infection
- kandidozfungal infection
Ukrainian дрізд
- дрізд (drizd)one of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Welsh bronfraith, llindag
- bronfraithone of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
- llindagfungal infection
- gânfungal infection
- trysglifungal infection
Yiddish דראָסל
- דראָסל (drosl)one of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Zulu umunswi
- umunswione of several species of songbirds of the family Turdidae
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with thrush
Cite this entry
thrush. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thrush
“thrush.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thrush. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “thrush,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/thrush.
Source: thrush on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.