bird of paradise
bird of paradise noun: any of various passerine birds of the family Paradisaeidae native to Oceania. In many of the species the breeding plumage of the males is brightly coloured.
Noun
bird of paradise (plural birds of paradise)
- Any of various passerine birds of the family Paradisaeidae native to Oceania. In many of the species the breeding plumage of the males is brightly coloured.
- She had a jonquil silk pelisse, a bonnet of the same colour, with a bird of paradise plume, looking very much like an illuminated butterfly.1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 187
- Synonyms:
- paradise bird
- A showy tropical flower of the genus Strelitzia, native to South Africa.
- Synonyms:
- bird of paradise flower, bird of paradise plant, crane flower, crane lily
bird of paradise meaning in Tagalog, Malay, Indonesian and Vietnamese
bird of paradise in Tagalog
- bird
- ibon ng paraiso
bird of paradise in Malay
- bird
- cenderawasih
bird of paradise in Indonesian
- bird
- cenderawasih
bird of paradise in Vietnamese
- bird
- chim thiên đường
- flower
- thiên điểu, chim thiên đường
Synonyms of bird of paradise
- bird of paradise flower
- bird of paradise plant
- crane flower
- crane lily
- paradise bird
Forms of bird of paradise
| plural | birds of paradise |
|---|---|
| alternative form | bird-of-paradise |
Origin of bird of paradise
The first Europeans to encounter their skins were the voyagers in Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation of the Earth. Antonio Pigafetta wrote that "The people told us that those birds came from the terrestrial paradise, and they call them bolon diuata, that is to say, 'birds of God"." "Bolon diuata" appears to be closer to Malay burung (“a bird”) and dewata (“a god”).
Words formed from bird of paradise
- blue bird of paradise
- emperor bird of paradise
- Goldie's bird of paradise
- greater bird of paradise
- king bird of paradise
- King-of-Saxony bird of paradise
- lesser bird of paradise
- magnificent bird of paradise
- paradise-crow
- Raggiana bird of paradise
- red bird of paradise
- standardwing bird of paradise
- twelve-wired bird of paradise
- Wilson's bird of paradise
Questions about bird of paradise
- What does bird of paradise mean?
- Bird of paradise means any of various passerine birds of the family Paradisaeidae native to Oceania. In many of the species the breeding plumage of the males is brightly coloured.
- What is bird of paradise in Tagalog?
- Bird of paradise in Tagalog is ibon ng paraiso. See Bird of paradise meaning in Tagalog.
- What part of speech is bird of paradise?
- Bird of paradise is a noun.
- What is the plural of bird of paradise?
- The plural of bird of paradise is birds of paradise.
Words near bird of paradise in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bird of paradise (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-bird of paradise.wav.
Cite this entry: “bird of paradise.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bird_of_paradise. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.