Thraupidae

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family of small, primarily tropical songbirds known for their vibrant plumage and varied diets, often found in Central and South America
2. A group of birds within a specific family characterized by their small size, colorful feathers, and distinct songs, typically inhabiting warmer climates
3. A family of avian species commonly referred to as tanagers, recognized for their diverse coloration and ecological roles within their habitats

Etymology: Thraupidae is a scientific name, not a word that passed through everyday speech, and its history is a matter of taxonomic convention. The family was named in 1847 by the French zoologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte, a nephew of Napoleon who did much of the nineteenth-century work on classifying birds. He built the name from "Thraupis," the genus of tanagers, which in turn came from the Greek "thraupis," a word used for some small bird, probably a finch or similar songbird. The ending "-idae" is the standard suffix that zoologists attach to a family name, taken from the stem of the genus. Bonaparte's choice of "Thraupis" as the base is what ties the family together. Its name records a genus, not a shared ancestry in the modern sense, so the word tells you little about the birds beyond which group someone once chose to model the family on. Later revisions of the classification have shifted which species belong to Thraupidae, but the name itself has stayed fixed since the 1840s.

Synonyms: tanagers