Cotingas

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Brightly coloured tropical American birds of the family Cotingidae, the plural form referring to several such species together
2. Several small fruit-eating passerine birds native to the forests of Central and South America, often vividly plumaged
3. The plural of a kind of New World perching bird known for its vivid plumage and forest habitat in tropical regions

Etymology: "Cotingas" is the plural of "cotinga", the name for a family of brightly coloured tropical American birds. The singular comes from New Latin "cotinga", which in turn was taken from Old Tupi "cutinga", the name used by the Tupi peoples of Brazil for these birds. European naturalists borrowed the name as they catalogued the Neotropical fauna, so the word carries the sound of an indigenous language into scientific Latin and then into English.