Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Bombycilla garrulus

Bombycilla garrulus

9.9
A large bird with silky feathers, a crest, and chestnut face markings that lives in northern North America and Eurasia
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : bómbycilo garrulus
  • The Bombycilla garrulus is often seen feeding on berries during the winter months.

Examples

  • The Bombycilla garrulus is often seen in flocks during winter.

  • Unlike the cedar waxwing, the Bombycilla garrulus has striking chestnut colors on its face and wings.

  • Birdwatchers were excited to spot a flock of Bombycilla garrulus near the northern forest edge.

  • Look at that Bombycilla garrulus flying by!

  • Birdwatchers were excited to spot a flock of Bombycilla garrulus near the northern forest edge.

  • The Bombycilla garrulus is often seen feeding on berries during the winter months.

  • Unlike the cedar waxwing, the Bombycilla garrulus has striking chestnut colors on its face and wings.

Synonyms

Bohemian waxwing
vsBombycilla garrulus
9.3

A large grey-brown bird with a pointed crest and red-tipped wing feathers

is the formal scientific Latin name used in taxonomy

Surface Forms

Bombycilla garrulus singular
Bombycilla garruli plural

Morphology

Bombycilla + Garrulus

This is a Latin binomial (genus + species) and both constituents are names of bird genera, so a learner who knows those constituent meanings can infer that Bombycilla garrulus refers to a particular bird species. Taxonomic naming is a compositional, cross-linguistic convention, so the basic meaning ('a species of bird') is directly derivable even if finer descriptive details are not.

Etymology

Bombycilla garrulus may come from Latin words that create a clear picture: Bombycilla links to 'silk' because of the bird's smooth, silky feathers, and garrulus means 'talkative' for its soft, chatty calls. So the name helps you remember a bird with silky feathers and a chattering voice.