Word.ws English Dictionary

godwit

/ˈɡɒd.wɪt/US/ˈɡɑd.wɪt/

godwit noun: any of four species of long-billed migratory wading birds in the genus Limosa, of the family Scolopacidae.

godwit: any of four species of long-billed migratory wading birds in the genus Limosa, of the family...
Image: Bowman, Tim Publisher: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

godwit (plural godwits)

  1. Any of four species of long-billed migratory wading birds in the genus Limosa, of the family Scolopacidae.
    • My foot-boy shall eat pheasants, calvered salmons, / Knots, godwits, lampreys: I myself will have / The beards of barbels, served instead of salads […]c. 1610, Ben Jonson, The Alchemist
    Synonyms:
    yarwhelp, yarwip

godwit meaning in Tamil and Arabic

godwit in Tamil

Long-billed wading bird
மூக்கன் mūkkaṉ

godwit in Arabic

Long-billed wading bird
بقويقة biqwayiqa

Synonyms of godwit

Forms of godwit

pluralgodwits

Origin of godwit

Origin unknown. A surface analysis would suggest Old English *gōdwiht as the term's ultimate origin, corresponding to good + wight (“creature”), but the term is attested only since late Middle English. The Oxford English Dictionary considers the term to probably have originally been imitative of the bird's call.

Words formed from godwit

Questions about godwit

What does godwit mean?
Godwit means any of four species of long-billed migratory wading birds in the genus Limosa, of the family Scolopacidae.
What is godwit in Tamil?
Godwit in Tamil is மூக்கன் (mūkkaṉ). See Godwit meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is godwit?
Godwit is a noun.
How do you pronounce godwit?
Godwit is pronounced /ˈɡɑd.wɪt/ (US).
What is the plural of godwit?
The plural of godwit is godwits.

Words near godwit in the dictionary

  1. Godwinian
  2. godwink
  3. godwinks
  4. Godwins
  5. Godwinson
  6. godwit
  7. godwits
  8. godwoman
  9. godwomen
  10. Godwottery
  11. Gody

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: godwit (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)-Vealhurl-godwit.wav.

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