Word.ws English Dictionary

friarbird

UK/ˈfɹʌɪəbəːd/

friarbird noun: any of several species of large Australian honeyeaters in the genus Philemon.

Noun

friarbird (plural friarbirds)

  1. Any of several species of large Australian honeyeaters in the genus Philemon.
    • The friar birds drove their beaks into the sweet white flesh of Bacchus Marsh apples.1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 186
    • From the sandalwood ridge behind him a friarbird repeated its ardent call again and again, warning off the intruders. Ar-coo! Ar-coo! Ar-coo!2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 55
    Synonyms:
    leatherhead

Synonyms of friarbird

Forms of friarbird

pluralfriarbirds
alternative formfriar bird

Origin of friarbird

From friar + bird.

Words formed from friarbird

Questions about friarbird

What does friarbird mean?
Friarbird means any of several species of large Australian honeyeaters in the genus Philemon.
What part of speech is friarbird?
Friarbird is a noun.
How do you pronounce friarbird?
Friarbird is pronounced /ˈfɹʌɪəbəːd/ (UK).
What is the plural of friarbird?
The plural of friarbird is friarbirds.

Words near friarbird in the dictionary

  1. friar's lantern
  2. friar's omelette
  3. friar's omelettes
  4. Friar-Preacher
  5. Friar-Preachers
  6. friarbird
  7. friarbirds
  8. friaress
  9. friaresses
  10. friarhood
  11. friarhoods

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: friarbird (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.

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