sparrow

Definition

The house sparrow, Passer domesticus; a small bird with a short bill, and brown, white and gray feathers.

Etymology

From Middle English sparwe, sparowe, from Old English spearwa, from Proto-West Germanic *sparwō, from Proto-Germanic *sparwô, from Proto-Indo-European *spḗr (“sparrow”). Cognate with Dutch spreeuw (“starling”), Alemannic German Spar (“sparrow”), German Sperling (“sparrow”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål spurv (“sparrow”), Norwegian Nynorsk sporv (“sparrow”), Swedish sparv (“sparrow”), Breton frao (“crow”), Tocharian A ṣpārāñ, Ancient Greek ψάρ (psár, “starling”).

Example Sentences

• "Man progresses generally, not both legs at once like a sparrow, but by putting one leg forward first, and then the other."
• "In a poem by Sappho, Aphrodite is represented as riding in a car drawn by sparrows."
• "cockney sparrow"