red-winged blackbird
1
5.8
- noun
- /ˈrɛdˈwɪŋd ˈblækˌbɜrd/
- US
:
mirlo de alas rojas
- Those were the walks when I really began to notice and appreciate the details: the beauty of black things against the green—the fields of cows on the way to Stinson, white egrets in the wetlands, red-winged blackbirds anywhere.
- red-winged blackbird, song sparrow
- American red-winged blackbird
Examples
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The male red-winged blackbird was easy to identify by the bright red and yellow on its wings.
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A red-winged blackbird sat on fence wire and looked in at her.
Fiction book (1992) -
I clearly remember seeing a tricolored blackbird, though for years people told me it was a red-winged blackbird.
Fiction book (2002) -
Now it was spring, the early-morning cries of red-winged blackbirds and cardinals.
Fiction book (1997) -
Further along, a flock of red-winged blackbirds stood pecking at something in the gravel one foot away from the track.
Fiction book (1990) -
There was an abundance of jays, larks, bluebirds, cardinals, hummingbirds, and red-winged blackbirds in those days before acid.
Fiction book (1992) -
A red-winged blackbird perched on the fence and sang a beautiful tune.
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We spotted a red-winged blackbird in the wetlands with its vibrant scarlet wings.
Synonyms
1
8.5
A black bird with bright red and yellow shoulder patches often found in marshes
A blackbird with red patches on its wings often found in marshes in North America
Surface Forms
Morphology
red-winged + blackbird
The compound is fully compositional: 'red-winged' straightforwardly means 'having red wings' and 'blackbird' names the bird, so the overall meaning 'a blackbird with red wing patches' is directly derivable from the constituents. This adjectival-nominal descriptive pattern is common in English and other languages, so a B1 learner who knows the component words would readily understand it.
Etymology
The name red-winged blackbird is a plain description: the male bird shows bright red patches on its wings, so red, winged, and blackbird describe how it looks. That's why the name means 'a blackbird with red on its wings'.