passerine

== English == === Etymology === 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). === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpæsəɹaɪn/, /-ɹən/, /-ɹiːn/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpæsəˌɹaɪn/ Hyphenation: pas‧ser‧ine === Adjective === passerine (not comparable) Of or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds, which are generally anisodactyl (“having three toes pointing forward and one back, which facilitates perching”). Antonym: nonpasserine (archaic) Chiefly in the former names of some birds: approximately the size of a sparrow. ==== Derived terms ==== nonpasserine ==== Translations ==== === Noun === passerine (plural passerines) Any bird of the order Passeriformes, which comprises more than half of all bird species. Synonyms: passeriform; see also Thesaurus:passerine Antonym: nonpasserine ==== Translations ==== === References === === Further reading === passerine on Wikipedia.Wikipedia === Anagrams === arsepines, parenesis == French == === Pronunciation === === Noun === passerine f (plural passerines) passerine === Further reading === “passerine”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012