Curlew
/ˈkɜːr.ljuː/noun
A wading bird with a long curved bill and a loud, haunting call.
Did you know?Curlew is ultimately an onomatopoeic name, and its history shows how humans turned a bird’s haunting call into a word that spread through French and English.
Etymological Timeline
Middle English
English
curleu
“A curlew; a long-billed wading bird.”
Old French
OF
courlieu
“A curlew.”
Medieval Latin
ML
courlieu / corlieu
“A curlew.”
Possibly Germanic/imitative
Proto-form
*kur- / *kurl-
“An imitative base echoing the bird's call.”
Modern English
English
curlew
“The modern name for several species of long-billed wading birds.”