kingfisher
/ˈkɪŋˌfɪʃə/ noun, proper noun
Forms kingfishers king's fisher
- noun Any of various birds of the suborder Alcedines (or the family Alcedinidae sensu lato), having a large head, short tail and brilliant colouration; they feed mostly on fish.
- noun common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)
- proper noun A city, the county seat of Kingfisher County, Oklahoma, United States.
Etymology
Originally king's fisher, from Middle English kyngys fyschare; equivalent to king + fisher. So named for obscure reasons.
Either after a person named King Fisher, or a combination of the surnames King and Fisher.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any one of numerous species of birds constituting the family Alcedinidæ. Most of them feed upon fishes which they capture by diving and seizing then with the beak; others feed only upon reptiles, insects, etc. About one hundred and fifty species are known. They are found in nearly all parts of the world, but are particularly abundant in the East Indies.
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “kingfisher”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details