Word.ws English Dictionary

oscine

Syllables: os·cine/ˈɒ.saɪn/US/ˈɑ.saɪn/

oscine adjective: of or pertaining to songbirds (suborder Passeri).

oscine: of or pertaining to songbirds (suborder Passeri)
Image: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

oscine (not comparable)

  1. Of or pertaining to songbirds (suborder Passeri).
    Synonyms:
    oscinine

Noun

oscine (plural oscines)

  1. Any bird of the suborder Passeri (the songbirds), which have better vocal control than other birds.
    • Because the oscines are the most speciose group of living birds, the use of learned vocalizations for mate competition and attraction has been hypothesized to have facilitated speciation (Marler and Tamura 1962; Slabbekoorn and Smith 2002; see Ricklefs [2003] for an alternative view).2005, Elizabeth Adkins-Regan, Hormones and Animal Social Behavior, page 273
    • Oscine songbirds are capable of vocal learning. This has led to a detailed study of the sophisticated set of neural nuclei responsible for the central control of the song. Oscines also show a high degree of complexity at the level of the vocal organ. For this reason, we dedicate a section to the...2006, Gabriel B. Mindlin, Rodrigo Laje, The Physics of Birdsong, page 41

oscine meaning in Tamil

oscine in Tamil

பாப்புள்

Synonyms of oscine

Forms of oscine

pluraloscines

Origin of oscine

From Latin oscen (“songbird”).

Words formed from oscine

Questions about oscine

What does oscine mean?
Oscine means of or pertaining to songbirds (suborder Passeri).
What is oscine in Tamil?
Oscine in Tamil is பாப்புள். See Oscine meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is oscine?
Oscine can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce oscine?
Oscine is pronounced /ˈɒ.saɪn/ (UK).

Words near oscine in the dictionary

  1. oscilloscopy
  2. oscillotonometer
  3. oscillotonometers
  4. oscillotonometric
  5. oscillotonometry
  6. oscine
  7. oscines
  8. oscinine
  9. oscitance
  10. oscitancies
  11. oscitancy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: oscine (page history and authors); oscine (Tamil Wiktionary) (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-oscine.wav.

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