lorikeet

1 8.8

A small brightly colored parrot from Australia that eats nectar and soft fruit

noun
/ˈlɔrɪˌkit/

Australian

: lorikeet

Several bird aviaries housing hummingbirds, finches, and lorikeets were added in the nineties, and it has grown to three acres of butterfly gardens and bird aviaries.
a rainbow lorikeet

Examples

A flock of rainbow lorikeets fluttered into a nearby tree.

Fiction book (2001)
Finch, wren, scrubbird, lorikeet, freckledduck, galah, kookaburra, parrot, cockatoo, albatr--

The Rescuers Down Under (1990)
A flock of lorikeets flew across the sky, their vibrant colors catching the sunlight.
At the zoo, we watched the lorikeets eagerly drink nectar from specially designed feeders.
The garden was filled with the cheerful sounds of lorikeets feeding on the blossoms.

Synonyms

parrot

vslorikeet

79 1.0

A brightly colored tropical bird with a short hooked beak that can copy human speech

is a small Australasian form with a slender tongue for feeding on nectar

Compounds

rainbow lorikeet

Australian

7.0

A bright, colorful parrot from Australia that often feeds on nectar

Varied Lorikeet

Australian

9.4

A small bright parrot from northern Australia with many colored feathers

How Colorful

macaw

7 4.1

lorikeet

Australian

1 8.8

parrot

79 1.0

sparrow

38 1.0

Surface Forms

lorikeet singular

lorikeets plural

Morphology

lorikeet = lory (semi-transparent) = lori + keet

Formed from 'lory' + the non-productive element '-keet' (a diminutive/combining element); the relation 'small lory' is recoverable if the learner knows 'lory' but '-keet' is not a familiar productive suffix.

Etymology

Lorikeet comes from lory, a name taken from Malay for a 'small parrot', and the ending -keet (as in parakeet) makes it sound like a little parrot. So a lorikeet is a small, bright parrot often feeding on 'nectar' and soft fruit.