Wrens
/rɛnz/noun
Plural of wren, a small brown songbird with a loud, complex song.
Did you know?The English word wren goes back to Old English and has deep Germanic relatives, but its exact prehistoric root is so old that linguists still treat parts of its history as uncertain rather than magical.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*wrainiz?
“A small bird; the exact ancestral form is uncertain”
Old English
OE
wrenna
“Wren, the small bird”
Middle English
ME
wrenne
“Wren”
Modern English
English
wren
“A small brown songbird with a loud, trilling voice”
Modern English
English
wrens
“Plural form of wren”