Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
baby bird

baby bird

11 1.0
A very young bird without enough feathers to fly or leave the nest
  • noun
  • /ˈbeɪbi bɜrd/
translation icon : polluelo
  • Do you think you might ever find a baby bird in your schoolyard?
  • baby bird in the nest
  • baby birds chirping
  • holding a baby bird

It was about you giving liquids to baby birds.

Examples

  • The baby bird chirped loudly, begging for food from its mother.

  • You know when you find a baby bird that's fallen from its nest, And you hold it in your hand and you can feel its warmth and its little heart is beating way too fast.

    It Waits (2005)

  • Her mouth is open, like a baby bird waiting for its dinner.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • We saw baby birds, too.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The response of the baby birds is immediate.

    Mr. Nobody (2009)

  • As they got closer, Walter could see baby birds.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Remember when I nursed that baby bird to health?

    She's Out of My League (2010)

  • I look in, eye to eye, and then I suddenly see a baby bird with an open beak.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • There's a baby bird and a father bird sitting in a nest.

    Shrek the Third (2007)

  • Out popped a newborn baby bird.

    Fiction book (2001)

Synonyms

chick
vsbaby bird
123 1.0

A very young bird, especially a newly hatched chicken

is broader, covering any immature bird not yet ready to fly
duckling
vsbaby bird
14 1.0

A very young duck that just hatched

is general, applying to tiny birds of all kinds not just water species
hatchling
vsbaby bird
12 3.5

A very young animal that has just come out of its egg, like a bird or turtle

is about birds that are immature and cannot yet leave the nest
nestling
vsbaby bird
  • Specialized
2 5.6

A young bird that cannot fly and stays in the nest

is the general term for a very immature bird that cannot leave the nest
young bird
vsbaby bird
1 1.2

A baby bird that is not yet an adult

is stricter meaning specifically a very immature bird still in the nest
poult
vsbaby bird
  • Specialized
1 9.2

A young farm bird like a chicken or turkey that is not yet full grown

is broader and not limited to domestic or farm-raised species
squab
vsbaby bird
9.5

A young pigeon that cannot fly and still lives in the nest

is a general name for any very young bird not ready to fly
keet
vsbaby bird
9.9

A young bird like a parrot or guinea fowl

is broader and not tied to these specific bird types
biddy
vsbaby bird
  • Informal
9.0

A very young chicken

is formal general term for any very immature bird in the nest

How Developed

juvenile
79 3.9
fledgling
2 6.1
baby bird
11 1.0
hatchling
12 3.5

Surface Forms

baby bird singular
baby birds plural

Morphology

baby + bird

The meaning 'a young bird' is directly and compositionally derived from 'baby' (a very young animal) + 'bird' with no idiomatic shift. This straightforward noun-noun modification is cross-linguistically common and would be immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Baby bird is a literal name for a tiny baby bird tucked in a nest with soft down feathers and not yet able 'to fly' or 'leave the nest'. So, the phrase means 'a young bird that cannot yet fly'.