Word.ws English Dictionary

ortolan

UK/ˈɔː.təl.ən//ˈɔɹ.tə.læn/

ortolan noun: a small European migratory bunting (Emberiza hortulana), once eaten whole as a delicacy.

ortolan: a small European migratory bunting (Emberiza hortulana), once eaten whole as a delicacy
Image: phenolog (away for a while), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

ortolan (plural ortolans)

  1. A small European migratory bunting (Emberiza hortulana), once eaten whole as a delicacy.
    • […]this taught him to consider Sophia as a most delicious morsel, indeed to regard her with the same desires which an ortolan inspires into the soul of an epicure.1749, Henry Fielding, chapter VI, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book VII
    • […]the last flavor Mitterrand wished to savor belonged to the flesh of the endangered ortolan, a songbird the size of a human toe that is a crime to buy or hunt, and is certainly illegal to eat. Mitterrand devoured it in the traditional manner, first covering his head with an embroidered cloth...2003, Stewart Lee Allen, In the Devil's Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food, page 73
  2. (US) Any of various similar birds, especially the bobolink, sora, or snow bunting.
  3. The greater short-toed lark (Calandrella brachydactyla).

Forms of ortolan

pluralortolans

Origin of ortolan

From Middle French hortolan (“gardener”), from Latin hortulānus (“gardener”). Doublet of hortulan.

Words formed from ortolan

Phrases with ortolan

Questions about ortolan

What does ortolan mean?
Ortolan means a small European migratory bunting (Emberiza hortulana), once eaten whole as a delicacy.
What part of speech is ortolan?
Ortolan is a noun.
How do you pronounce ortolan?
Ortolan is pronounced /ˈɔː.təl.ən/ (UK).
What is the plural of ortolan?
The plural of ortolan is ortolans.

Words near ortolan in the dictionary

  1. Ortners
  2. ortokeratosis
  3. Ortokid
  4. Ortokids
  5. ortol
  6. ortolan
  7. ortolan bunting
  8. ortolan buntings
  9. ortolans
  10. ortologue
  11. Orton

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ortolan (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-ortolan.ogg.

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