Pratincole

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A swallow-like wading bird of Africa, Asia and Europe that hawks insects over water and open ground in flight
2. A long-winged, forked-tailed shorebird related to coursers, which feeds on insects caught on the wing near marshes
3. An Old World bird of the family Glareolidae that resembles a swallow but has wader-like legs and hunts airborne insects

Etymology: A pratincole is a bird of the family Glareolidae, a group of long-winged, swallow-like waders found mainly in Africa, Asia and Europe. Its name comes from Latin "pratincola", which combines "pratum", meaning meadow, with "incola", meaning dweller or inhabitant. Read literally, the name means "meadow-dweller", a reference to the open grassland and marsh habitats where these birds feed and nest. The "incola" element is the same root that gives English "inhabit" and "colony" (through the sense of settlers living in a place), so the word is essentially a Latin description of a bird that lives among the meadows. Its Latin base also explains why the English form keeps the stress and structure of the classical word rather than being adapted from a vernacular name.