Jabiru
/ˌdʒæbɪˈruː/noun
A large tropical stork of the Americas and Australasia.
Did you know?English *jabiru* comes through Portuguese from a Tupí-Guaraní name used by Indigenous peoples of Brazil, showing how natural history often preserved native names that European explorers carried into global science.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Columbian
Tupí-Guaraní
jabirú
“A native name for a large stork-like bird”
16th Century
Portuguese
jabiru
“A borrowed name for the South American stork”
18th Century
French
jabiru
“Scientific and travel-writing term for the bird”
18th-19th Century
English
jabiru
“Name adopted into English for the large tropical stork”