chickadee

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

Apparent onomatopoeia from these birds' calls having a distinctive “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” sound, possibly influenced by chick or chicken.

“Go ask Tommy Tit the Chickadee if it isn’t true. — Old Granny Fox, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) Burgess
But cheerily the chickadee Singeth to me on fence and tree; The snow sails round him as he sings, White as the down of angels' wings. — The Literary World Seventh Reader, Unknown
Their feather suits are so warm that some of our smallest and weakest birds are able to stay with us, like the chickadee and the golden-crowned kinglet. — Children's Literature: A Textbook of Sources for Teachers and Teacher-Training Classes, Charles Madison Curry

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning