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Glite Dictionary
🐦 A black-and-white bird 🗣️ A chatterbox 🧺 A collector
magpie

magpie

3 3.5
A large black-and-white bird with a long tail that likes shiny things
  • noun
  • /ˈmæɡˌpaɪ/
translation icon : urraca
  • The fence rose before them, the mare cornered neatly, and a magpie flared from a juniper.

Yesterday I saved W from a magpie attack.

Examples

  • By day, Riley saw magpies, starlings, and clouds gliding past like ships' figureheads.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • At this point, Alicia Rios from Madrid intervened, having overheard us, and asked what a magpie was.

    Academic text (1991)

  • My father stopped reading to watch a magpie rising black and white against the sky.

  • I kept watching it, and I am sure I saw this baby magpie fly out of the nest.

    Blog text (16)

  • You know, there were crows and magpies and everything.

    Bait (2012)

  • The magpie gave a grating squawk and swaggered down to take the squirrel's place.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Again, there seemed to be action everywhere; a pair of magpie robins were nesting in a hole in a tree, purple sunbirds hunted.

    Academic text (2006)

  • Odd that since the snow came I haven't seen the great spotted woodpecker, and the magpies and hooded crows are staying away too.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The magpie perched on the fence, its black-and-white feathers gleaming in the sunlight.

  • Every spring, I enjoy watching magpies build their nests high in the trees.

Synonyms

Pica pica
vsmagpie
  • Specialized
8.9

A black-and-white bird with a long tail that lives in Europe and Asia

is the common general term rather than the scientific name
European magpie
vsmagpie
  • UK
3.9

A common black and white bird with a long tail found across Europe and Asia

is broader and highlights shiny object attraction rather than intelligence

Idioms

like a magpie
  • Informal
8.4

Likes shiny things and small items

Compounds

bell magpie
  • Australian
9.9

A blue-black bird that eats fruit and makes a bell-like call

American magpie
  • US
6.7

A black and white bird with a long tail that lives in the western mountains of North America

Australian magpie
  • Australian
6.0

A large black and white bird from Australia that sings a beautiful, musical song

European magpie
  • UK
3.9

A common black and white bird with a long tail found across Europe and Asia

How Long-Tailed

lyrebird
  • Australian
1 8.6
magpie
3 3.5
whidah
  • South African
9.9
sparrow
38 1.0
finch
39 1.6

Surface Forms

magpie singular
magpies plural

Morphology

magpie = Mag + pie (opaque) = mag + pie

The word is historically a compound, but the modern bird name is lexicalized and not transparently recoverable for most learners from its parts.

Etymology

Magpie probably joined Mag (a nickname for a 'talkative' woman) and pie (the old name for the bird). Because these birds are loud and often take shiny things, the name fits the black-and-white bird.