Blackbirds

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of bird known for its dark plumage and melodic song, often found in various habitats and representing different species worldwide
2. A common name for several species of medium to large passerine birds in the family Icteridae, known for their vocal abilities and distinctive coloring
3. Referring to small to medium-sized songbirds with predominantly black feathers, typically seen in gardens and fields, recognized for their social behavior and chorus of sounds

Etymology: "Blackbirds" is simply the plural of "blackbird," and the singular has a plain, transparent history: a compound of "black" and "bird." The name was already in use in Middle English, where "blakebird" and "blacbrid" referred to the ouzel, the bird we now call the Eurasian blackbird. The older sense, then, was a specific species rather than a broad category of dark songbirds. The word "bird" itself was once a narrower term in English. Across Middle English it was used for young birds and nestlings, and only gradually came to mean birds in general, which pushed the older word for birds, "fowl," toward more specialized uses. That is why "blackbird" is a compound of a color and a term for a feathered creature, rather than a name built on a special word for this one species.

Synonyms: songbirds, thrushes