Word.ws English Dictionary

bird

More pronunciations (2)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ˈbɜːd/New Zealand/ˈbøːd/

bird noun: an animal of the clade (traditionally class) Aves in the phylum Chordata, characterized by being warm-blooded, having feathers and wings usually capable of flight, having a beaked mouth, and laying eggs.

bird: an animal of the clade (traditionally class) Aves in the phylum Chordata, characterized by being...
Image: Frank Wouters of Antwerp, Belgium, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

bird (plural birds)

  1. An animal of the clade (traditionally class) Aves in the phylum Chordata, characterized by being warm-blooded, having feathers and wings usually capable of flight, having a beaked mouth, and laying eggs.
    • Ducks and sparrows are birds.
    • The level below this is called the Phylum; birds belong to the Phylum Chordata, which includes all the vertebrate animals (the sub-phylum Vertebrata) and a few odds and ends.2004, Bruce Whittington, Loucas Raptis, Seasons with Birds, page 50
  2. (obsolete) Any winged animal.
  3. (obsolete) A young bird, a nestling.
    • […] the foxes have holes, and the brydds of the aier have nestes, but [t]he sonne of the man hath not where onto leye his heede: […]1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew viij:[20], folio x, recto
    • That ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  4. (slang) A man, fellow.
    • He once took in his own mother, and was robbed by a 'pal,' who thought he was a doctor. Oh, he's a rare bird is 'Gentleman Joe'!1886, Edmund Routledge, Routledge's every boy's annual
    • "What I mean - I expect that old, red-headed bird at the office sent you round with no other purpose."1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019
  5. (Ireland, UK, colloquial) A girl or woman, especially one considered sexually attractive.
    • And by my word! the bonny bird / In danger shall not tarry.1809, Thomas Campbell, Lord Ullin's Daughter
    • After tea, the bright boys wash, clean their boots, and change into their “second-best” attire, and stroll forth[…]; sometimes to saunter, in company with others, up and down that parade until they “click” with one of the “birds.”1918 [1915], Thomas Burke, Nights in London, New York: Henry Holt and Company, page 75
    1. (Ireland, UK, broadly, colloquial) A girlfriend.
      • Mike went out with his bird last night.
      • But all of a sudden though, just through the smoke / It's your bird laughing and joking with a bloke / Ain't just that either, as she moves closer / In a shape what looks like they're lovers, he's tonguing her!2002, “Geezers need excitement”, in Mike Skinner (lyrics), Original Pirate Material, performed by The Streets
  6. (slang) An aircraft.
    • “Cabin cleaners? They have worked on this bird. Don't you know you've always got to clean up after the cleaners? What they don't teach you in school these days.”1967, Trudy Baker, Rachel Jones, Donald Bain (uncredited), Coffee, Tea, or Me?: The Uninhibited Memoirs of Two Airline Stewardesses, New York: Bantam Books, page 10
    • Any of our birds squawking?2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, spoken by Miranda Keyes (Justis Bolding), Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area: Crow's Nest
  7. (slang) A satellite.
    • Deployment of the fourth bird "should ensure that Inmarsat has sufficient capacity in orbit in the early 1990s, taking into account the possibility of launch failures and the age of some of the spacecraft in the Inmarsat first generation system1988, Satellite communications. Jan-Oct. 1988
    • Will a government- backed APSTAR satellite knock out a planned AsiaSat II bird?1992, Cable Vision
  8. (UK, with-definite-article) Booing and jeering, especially as done by an audience expressing displeasure at a performer.
    • to give the bird
  9. (with-definite-article) The vulgar hand gesture in which the middle finger is extended.
    • to flip the bird
    • For whatever reason — and there are so many to chose from — they flipped the bird in the direction of the tinted windows of the Bushmobile.2002, The Advocate, "Flying fickle finger of faith", page 55.
    Synonyms:
    the finger
  10. A yardbird.
  11. (US, slang) A kilogram of cocaine.
    • Never dirt on my knees
      I'm just serving these fiends
      Sell birds to the bees
      I sell birds to the trees2015 January 12, Lil Wayne, “Sh!t” (track 2), in Sorry 4 the Wait 2
    Synonyms:
    chicken, brick
  12. (Canada, Philippines, slang) A penis.
    • BUBBLES: One time I was making a model and I glued the wing to a B17 bomber to my bird by accident.2004 May 9, Mike Clattenburg, Mike Smith (actor), 05:29 from the start, in Trailer Park Boys(Conky), season 4, episode 5 (TV series), spoken by Bubbles (Mike Smith)
  13. (informal) Snowbird (retiree who moves to a warmer climate).

Verb (1)

bird (third-person singular simple present birds, present participle birding, simple past and past participle birded)

  1. (intransitive) To observe or identify wild birds in their natural environment.
  2. (intransitive) To catch or shoot birds; to hunt birds.
  3. (figuratively, intransitive) To seek for game or plunder; to thieve.
    • MAMMON: These day-owls.
      SURLY: That are birding in men's purses1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612, →OCLC, (please specify the Internet...
  4. (transitive) To transmit via satellite.
    • Unless the TV crew has its own flyaway, the locals can still defeat a story they couldn't prevent reporters from covering by cutting it off at the pass, when it is being birded through their facilities.1995, David D. Pearce, Wary Partners: Diplomats and the Media, page 43
    • After being sent by fast car to Tel Aviv the cassettes would be 'birded' by satellite to the USA and London.2012, Yoel Cohen, Media Diplomacy, page 127

Adjective

bird (comparative (rare) birdier, superlative (rare) birdiest)

  1. (Canada, colloquial) Able to be passed with very little work; having the nature of a bird course.
    • SOC100 isn’t bird at all lol. But ANT101 is super easy & the prof (Dr. Sherry Fukuzawa) is amazing.2020 October 16, illegalsalt, “Thoughts on these bird courses”, in Reddit, r/UTM
    • but admittedly, all the hours spent creating excel sheets optimizing my course plan, all the research finding the absolutely best professors, all the smart friends i made, all the alumni i contacted to collect crowdmarks of past exams, all the research i did finding the birdiest courses of...2022 June 17, ConradIsMyDaddy, “How to Graduate from the University of Waterloo's Computer Science Program with the Least Amount of Effort”, in Reddit, r/uwaterloo

Noun (2)

bird (uncountable)

  1. (slang) A prison sentence.
    • He’s doing bird.
    • Well, I’ll do my bird - I can ‘andle it, bird’s never been no trouble for me - and then I’ll get you.2012, Theodore Dalrymple, If Symptoms Persist
    Synonyms:
    porridge, stretch, time

Verb (2)

bird (third-person singular simple present birds, present participle birding, simple past and past participle birded)

  1. (slang, transitive) To bring into prison, to roof.
    • Free Criminal, he got birded
      That's a L but I know he’ll firm it
      I was vexed when I heard that verdict2017, “No Hook”, ZK & Digga D (lyrics), CDM (music)

Proper noun capitalized: Bird

Bird

  1. A surname.
  2. (jazz) Nickname of Charlie Parker (1920–1955), jazz saxophonist.
    • When Bird played like that, it was like hearing music for the first time. I'd never heard anybody play like that. Later Sonny Rollins and I would try to do things like that, and me and Trane, those short, hard bursts of musical phrases. But when Bird played like that, he was outrageous…2012, John Szwed, quoting Miles Davis, So What: The Life of Miles Davis, arrow books, →ISBN

bird meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

bird in Hindi

animal
चिड़िया ciṛiyā, पंछी pañchī, पक्षी pakṣī, परन्दा parandā, पखेरू pakherū

bird in Tamil

animal
பறவை paṟavai

bird in Marathi

animal
पक्षी pakṣī

bird in Urdu

animal
چِڑْیا ciṛyā, پَنْچھی panchī, پَکْشی pakśī, پَرِنْدَہ parinda, پَکھیرو pakhero
More languagesFewer languages
bird in Bengali
পাখী pakhi, পাখি pakhi
bird in Telugu
పక్షి pakṣi, విహంగము vihaṅgamu, పిట్ట piṭṭa, చిలుక ciluka
bird in Malayalam
പക്ഷി pakṣi, കിളി kiḷi, പറവ paṟava
bird in Kannada
ಹಕ್ಕಿ hakki, ಪಕ್ಷಿ pakṣi
bird in Punjabi
ਪੰਖੀ paṅkhī, ਪੰਛੀ pañchī, پَنْچھی pnb, پَرِنْدَہ parindah
bird in Gujarati
પક્ષી pakṣī, પંખી paṅkhī
bird in Odia
ପକ୍ଷୀ pakṣi, ଚଢ଼େଇ caṛhei
bird in Sanskrit
वि vi, पक्षिन् pakṣin
bird in Sinhala
පක්ෂියා pakṣiyā, කුරුල්ලා kurullā
bird in Assamese
চৰাই sorai
bird in Nepali
चरा carā
bird in Pashto
مرغه marǧa
bird in Tagalog
ibon
bird in Arabic
طَائِر ṭāʔir, عُصْفُور ʕuṣfūr, طير ṭēr, عصفورة ʕaṣfūra
bird in Malay
burung, manuk
bird in Indonesian
burung, cewek
bird in Persian
پَرِنْدَه parinda, مُرْغ murġ, پَرَنْدِه parande, جیگَر jigar
bird in Thai
นก nók, ปักษา bpàk-sǎa
bird in Vietnamese
chim
bird in Myanmar
ငှက် hngak
Sindhi
پَکِي pakhī
Dhivehi
ދޫނި dūni
Kashmiri
جاناوار jānāvār
Dzongkha
བྱ bya

Examples of bird in a sentence

  • "Ah, he's a funny bird," said Phaedra, throwing a leg over the sill.2006, Jeff Fields, Terry Kay, A cry of angels:
  • Are you calling me “darlin’”? / Are you calling me “bird”?2007, Jules De Martino, Katie White, “That's Not My Name”, performed by The Ting Tings:
  • “All these fantastic birds, long hair, made up, false eyelashes and things, crowding round this group of scabby, spotty teenagers,” marveled Anderson.2017, David Weigel, The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock, W. W. Norton & Company:
  • In reality, the Air Force was never able to place a bird in orbit that quickly.2015, John Fuller, Thor's Legions: Weather Support to the U.S. Air Force and Army, 1937-1987, Springer, →ISBN, page 384:

All 40 example sentences with bird

Synonyms of bird

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of bird

Forms of bird

Noun
pluralbirds
Verb
third-person singular presentbirds
present participlebirding
past participlebirded
pastbirded
Adjective
comparative (rare)birdier
superlative (rare)birdiest
Proper noun
alternative formByrd

Plural of bird: birds

Origin of bird

From Middle English bird, brid, from Old English bridd (“chick, fledgling, chicken”), of uncertain origin (see Old English bridd for more). Originally from a term used of birds that could not fly (chicks, fledglings, chickens) as opposed to the general Old English term for flying birds, fugol (modern fowl). Gradually replaced fowl as the most common term starting in the 14th century. The "booing/jeering" and "vulgar hand gesture" senses derived from the expression “to give the big bird”, as in “to hiss someone like a goose”, dated in the mid‐18th century.

Originally Cockney rhyming slang, shortened from bird-lime for "time".

* As an English and Scottish surname, from the noun bird. * As an Irish surname, Anglicized/translated from several names erroneously thought to contain the element éan (“bird”) such as Ó hÉinigh (see Heagney), Ó hÉanna (see Heaney), Ó hÉanacháin (see Heneghan) and Mac an Déaghanaigh (see McEneaney). * Similarly translated from several other languages containing the word bird, such as German Vogel, French Loiseau, Czech Ptáček see Ptacek), Pták, Polish Ptak. * This also extends to Native American names, such as Lakota ziŋtkala (“bird”). Compare Eagle, Hawk; Blackbird, Kingbird, Redbird, etc.

Words formed from bird

Phrases with bird

177 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with bird

35 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about bird

What does bird mean?
Bird means an animal of the clade (traditionally class) Aves in the phylum Chordata, characterized by being warm-blooded, having feathers and wings usually capable of flight, having a beaked mouth, and laying eggs.
What is bird in Hindi?
Bird in Hindi is चिड़िया (ciṛiyā), पंछी (pañchī), पक्षी (pakṣī). See Bird meaning in Hindi.
How do you use bird in a sentence?
"Ah, he's a funny bird," said Phaedra, throwing a leg over the sill.
What part of speech is bird?
Bird can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce bird?
Bird is pronounced /ˈbɜːd/ (Australia).
What is the plural of bird?
The plural of bird is birds.

Words near bird in the dictionary

  1. birchwoods
  2. birchy
  3. Birchy Bay
  4. Birckbichler
  5. Bircotes
  6. bird
  7. Bird and Baby
  8. bird app
  9. bird ball
  10. bird balls
  11. bird bath

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bird (page history and authors); Bird (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-bird.ogg.

Cite this entry: “bird.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bird. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.