nightingale
/ˈnaɪtɪŋɡeɪl/
nightingale noun: a Eurasian and African songbird, Luscinia megarhynchos, family Muscicapidae, famed for its beautiful singing at night; a common nightingale.
Noun (1)
nightingale (plural nightingales)
- A Eurasian and African songbird, Luscinia megarhynchos, family Muscicapidae, famed for its beautiful singing at night; a common nightingale.
- Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet neere day: / It was the Nightingale, and not the Larke, / That pier'ſt the fearefull hollow of thine earec. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Some admired the external beauties of the objects they beheld, like the nightingale in love with the roſe.1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page v
- Synonyms:
- philomel
Noun (2)
nightingale (plural nightingales)
Proper noun capitalized: Nightingale
Nightingale (countable and uncountable, plural Nightingales)
- A surname.
- After the death of his [Verney's] first wife, he proposed to Florence Nightingale but she refused him. Later he married her sister, and for many years Claydon was Miss Nightingale's second home.1960 March, N. Caplan, “The Railway Member of Parliament”, in Railway Magazine, page 208
- A hamlet in Wheatland County, Alberta, Canada, named after Florence Nightingale.
Noun (3) capitalized: Nightingale
Nightingale (plural Nightingales)
- A temporary facility built at short notice during the COVID-19 pandemic, or by extension any other emergency.
- In June, the National Education Union wrote to the government, asking it to set up “Nightingale schools”: classrooms in churches, libraries and leisure centres.2020 November 3, George Monbiot, “School safety is the latest outsourcing scandal. I feel a creeping despair”, in The Guardian
- This scenario would put the NHS under extreme pressure and lead to more non-Covid patients being turned away and use of all available space in Nightingales.2021 January 1, Jane Merrick, “Hospital admissions ‘could double’ before virus wave reaches peak, Sage member warns”, in The i Paper
nightingale meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
nightingale in Hindi
- bird
- बुलबुल bulbul, अंदलीब andlīb, हजारदास्ताँ hajārdāstā̃
nightingale in Tamil
- இராப்பாடி, தேன்சிட்டு, வானம்பாடி
nightingale in Marathi
- नायटिंगेल, नाईटिंगेल
nightingale in Urdu
- bird
- بلبل bulbul
More languagesFewer languages
- nightingale in Bengali
- বুলবুল bulbul
- nightingale in Telugu
- నైటింగేల్, నైటింగల్, నైటింగెల్
- nightingale in Malayalam
- രാപ്പാടി rāppāṭi
- nightingale in Kannada
- ಹಾಡುಹಕ್ಕಿ
- nightingale in Punjabi
- ਬੁਲਬੁਲ bulbul
- nightingale in Gujarati
- બુલબુલ bulbul
- nightingale in Odia
- ବୁଲୁବୁଲୁ bulubulu
- nightingale in Sanskrit
- बुलबुल bulabula
- nightingale in Nepali
- नाइटिङ्गेल, नाइटिङेल, नाइटिङ्गल
- nightingale in Pashto
- بلبل bulbul
- nightingale in Tagalog
- ruwisenyor
- nightingale in Arabic
- عَنْدَلِيب ʕandalīb, بلبل bulbul
- nightingale in Malay
- bulbul
- nightingale in Indonesian
- bulbul
- nightingale in Persian
- بلبل bolbol, هزاردستان hazârdastân, شباهنگ šabâhang
- nightingale in Thai
- นกไนติงเกล nók nai-dting-gayn
- nightingale in Vietnamese
- dạ oanh
- nightingale in Myanmar
- ညတေးသီငှက် nya.te:sihngak
Examples of nightingale in a sentence
- The oaks around were the home of a tribe of nightingales.1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter V, in The Last Man. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
- The air, too, was heavy with perfume, and a nightingale, high in the heavens, gave out a cheery song of welcome.1936, F.J. Thwaites, chapter XXII, in The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards, published 1940, page 222:
Synonyms of nightingale
Forms of nightingale
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | nightingales |
| plural | Nightingales |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Nightingales |
Origin of nightingale
Inherited from Middle English nyghtyngale, nightingale, niȝtingale, alteration (with intrusive n) of nyghtgale, nightegale, from Old English nihtegala, nihtegale (“nightingale; night-raven”, literally “night-singer”), from Proto-West Germanic *nahtigalā (“nightingale”), equivalent to a compound of night + gale. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Noachtegoal (“nightingale”), Dutch nachtegaal (“nightingale”), German Low German Nachtigall (“nightingale”), German Nachtigall (“nightingale”), Danish nattergal (“thrush nightingale”), Swedish näktergal (“nightingale”), Icelandic næturgali (“nightingale”).
Named after Florence Nightingale.
Words formed from nightingale
- Ceylon nightingale
- Chinese nightingale
- common nightingale
- Dutch nightingale
- fen nightingale
- Indian nightingale
- Irish nightingale
- Japanese nightingale
- mock nightingale
- nightingale finch
- nightingale floor
- nightingale of the East
- nightingale-thrush
- nightingale-wren
- Palestine nightingale
- Persian nightingale
- Scotch nightingale
- thrush nightingale
- Virginia nightingale
- Florence Nightingale
- Nightingale ward
- Nightingale court
- Swedish Nightingale
Phrases with nightingale
Questions about nightingale
- What does nightingale mean?
- Nightingale means a Eurasian and African songbird, Luscinia megarhynchos, family Muscicapidae, famed for its beautiful singing at night; a common nightingale.
- What is nightingale in Hindi?
- Nightingale in Hindi is बुलबुल (bulbul), अंदलीब (andlīb), हजारदास्ताँ (hajārdāstā̃). See Nightingale meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use nightingale in a sentence?
- The oaks around were the home of a tribe of nightingales.
- What part of speech is nightingale?
- Nightingale can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce nightingale?
- Nightingale is pronounced /ˈnaɪtɪŋɡeɪl/.
- What is the plural of nightingale?
- The plural of nightingale is nightingales.
Words near nightingale in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nightingale (page history and authors); Nightingale (page history and authors); nightingale (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nightingale (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); বুলবুল (Bengali) (page history and authors); nightingale (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); nightingale (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਬੁਲਬੁਲ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ବୁଲୁବୁଲୁ (Odia) (page history and authors); बुलबुल (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); nightingale (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); بلبل (Pashto) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-nightingale.ogg.
Cite this entry: “nightingale.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nightingale. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.