Waterbirds

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Birds that inhabit aquatic environments such as lakes, rivers, and wetlands
2. Species of birds adapted to living in or around water bodies
3. Avian creatures commonly found in habitats with abundant water resources

Etymology: "Waterbirds" is simply the plural of "waterbird," a compound made from the two plain English words "water" and "bird." Both parts are native Old English vocabulary, so the term needs no foreign ancestry to explain it: a bird that spends its life on or beside water. The pattern is transparent. "Water" supplies the habitat and "bird" the creature, and English has long built compounds this way to name a kind of animal by its environment, much as a "seabird" or "songbird" is named by what it does or where it lives. The plural simply adds the usual "-s" to the end of the whole compound.

Synonyms: aquatic birds, wading birds