starling
Syllables: star·ling/ˈstɑːlɪŋ/US/ˈstɑɹlɪŋ/
starling noun: a family, Sturnidae, of passerine birds.
_at_Bodega_Head-1209.jpg){kind=link}
Noun (1)
starling (plural starlings)
- A family, Sturnidae, of passerine birds.
- The common starling, Sturnus vulgaris, which has dark, iridescent plumage.
- Vast flights of starlings, fleeing the racket, beat across the sky at high speed, like Squall-clouds,— Evening at Noon-tide.1997, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 52, in Mason & Dixon, 1st US edition, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, part Two: America, page 501
- The common starling, Sturnus vulgaris, which has dark, iridescent plumage.
- A fish, rock trout (Hexagrammos spp.), of the North Pacific, especially, Hexagrammos decagrammus, found in US waters.
- Synonyms:
- boregat, bodieron
Noun (2)
starling (plural starlings)
- An enclosure like a coffer-dam, formed of piles driven closely together before any structure or work, as a protection against the wash of waves, commonly used to protect the piers of a bridge.
- One of the piles used in forming such a breakwater.
Proper noun capitalized: Starling
Starling
- An English surname transferred from the nickname from a nickname for a gregarious person.
- When we had all laughed and applauded till we were faint, Starling, not to be outdone, favoured us with a more modern saltatory entertainment in the Lancashire clog manner — to the best of my belief, the longest dance ever performed […]1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House
- A male given name transferred from the surname.
starling meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
starling in Hindi
- स्टार्लिंग, स्टारलिंग
starling in Tamil
- நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும் பறவைகளில், இது ஒரு சிறப்பு இனமாகும்
starling in Marathi
- स्टारलिंग, स्टार्लिंग
starling in Urdu
- مینا
More languagesFewer languages
- starling in Bengali
- শালিক śalik
- starling in Telugu
- స్టార్లింగ్
- starling in Malayalam
- സ്റ്റാർലിംഗ്, സ്റ്റാർലിങ്
- starling in Kannada
- ಸ್ಟಾರ್ಲಿಂಗ್
- starling in Punjabi
- ਤਿਲੀਅਰ tilīara
- starling in Gujarati
- સ્ટાર્લિંગ
- starling in Odia
- ସ୍ଟାର୍ଲିଂ, ଷ୍ଟାର୍ଲିଂ, ଷ୍ଟାର୍ଲିଙ୍ଗ
- starling in Nepali
- स्टार्लिङ, स्टार्लिङ्ग, स्टारलिङ
- starling in Pashto
- څاښکه śâx̌ka
- starling in Tagalog
- martines
- starling in Arabic
- زُرْزُور zurzūr
- starling in Indonesian
- jalak
- starling in Persian
- سار sâr, ساری sâri
Examples of starling in a sentence
- A common visitor in summer is the plumcoloured starling, Cinnyricinclus leucogaster, when it is widespread.
- Starling looked past Carter, to an ukiyo-e woodcut of a Kabuki player.
- A.D.’s beautiful description probably applies to the plumcoloured starling, Cinnyricinclus leucogaster (O.
Synonyms of starling
- European starling
- boregat
- bodieron
- stare
Forms of starling
| plural | starlings |
|---|---|
| alternative form | sterling |
Origin of starling
From Middle English starling, sterling, sterlinge, from Old English stærling, from stær (“starling”) + -ling (diminutive suffix). Cognate with Middle Dutch sterlinck (“starling”).
Apparently a variant of staddling (although difficult to account for), or perhaps an alteration by association with another (unidentified) word.
Words formed from starling
Phrases with starling
- pied starling
- rosy starling
- common starling
- amethyst starling
- babbling starling
- European starling
- spotless starling
- New Zealand starling
- plum-colored starling
- plumcoloured starling
- rose-colored starling
- plum-coloured starling
3 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with starling
Questions about starling
- What does starling mean?
- Starling means a family, Sturnidae, of passerine birds.
- What is starling in Hindi?
- Starling in Hindi is स्टार्लिंग, स्टारलिंग. See Starling meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is starling?
- Starling can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce starling?
- Starling is pronounced /ˈstɑːlɪŋ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of starling?
- The plural of starling is starlings.
Words near starling in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: starling (page history and authors); Starling (page history and authors); starling (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); starling (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); starling (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); starling (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); starling (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); starling (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); starling (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ਤਿਲੀਅਰ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); starling (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); starling (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); starling (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); څاښکه (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-starling.wav.
Cite this entry: “starling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/starling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.