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Glite Dictionary
dickey-bird

dickey-bird

9.9
A small bird adults call when talking to children
  • noun
  • /ˈdɪkiˌbɜːd/
  • Baby Talk
translation icon : pajarito
  • Grandad pointed to a dickey-bird in the garden to make his granddaughter laugh.

They nothing, not even a dicky bird.

Examples

  • Look, there's a dickey-bird singing on the fence!

  • The dickey-bird sang sweetly in the garden.

  • We could hear the dickey-birds chirping in the early morning.

  • Look at that little dickey-bird over there!

  • Grandad pointed to a dickey-bird in the garden to make his granddaughter laugh.

  • Look, there's a dickey-bird singing on the fence!

  • We could hear the dickey-bird chirping in the early morning.

Synonyms

birdie
vsdickey-bird
  • Baby Talk
36 1.4

A small bird people talk about in a friendly way to children

is chiefly British and used by adults when speaking to children about birds
birdy
vsdickey-bird
  • Baby Talk
21 7.9

A small bird often named by children

is the chiefly British adult expression used when addressing children about small birds
dickybird
vsdickey-bird
  • Archaic
1 9.6

A small bird people talk about to children

is the chiefly British hyphenated form normally used by adults for children
chickie
vsdickey-bird
  • Informal
1 8.2

A very young chicken that is small and soft

is broader, used for any small bird in child-directed informal speech
dickeybird
vsdickey-bird
  • Archaic
9.9

A small bird that adults point out to children

is the original hyphenated chiefly British informal form used by adults
biddy
vsdickey-bird
  • Informal
9.0

A very young chicken

is the informal chiefly British term for small birds adults say to children
mossie
vsdickey-bird
  • South African
9.9

A small brown bird like a sparrow that lives in gardens

is the chiefly British informal term adults use for any small bird with children

How Small

wren
5 2.2
dickey-bird
  • Baby Talk
9.9
sparrow
38 1.0
blackbird
  • US
5 2.7

Surface Forms

dickey-bird singular
dickey-birds plural

Morphology

dickey-bird = dickey + bird (semi-transparent) = dickey + bird

The compound is literally 'dickey' + 'bird', but the first element is dialectal/childish and may be unfamiliar to learners, so the meaning 'small bird' is only partly derivable.

Etymology

Dickey-bird is a playful, childlike name made of dickey and bird 'bird'. A helpful way to remember dickey is to think of it as a childish way of saying 'little', so dickey-bird means a small, friendly bird and is often used by adults when they talk to children in Britain.