Touraco

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A brightly colored tree-dwelling bird of sub-Saharan Africa, belonging to the family known for its crests and vivid green or red feathers
2. An African forest bird with striking plumage and a crest, found in the woodlands and forests of sub-Saharan Africa
3. A vividly feathered, fruit-eating bird native to the forests of tropical Africa, often noted for its crest and bold coloring

Etymology: The bird's name is a loanword from West Africa, though English and French took it from a Twi-speaking source, and the spelling we now see is itself a variant of "turaco." The "touraco" spelling is the form found in French, which is where the English version comes from. Both spellings refer to the same family of brightly coloured, mostly African birds, and "touraco" is the alternative form of "turaco," with the French spelling kept in circulation alongside it. The word's ultimate source is a regional African name for these birds, and European naturalists borrowed it in the period when they were cataloguing the continent's fauna. Once in French, it passed into English, where it has remained a specialist term used by ornithologists and birdwatchers.