English Explanatory Dictionary

nightingale

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A Eurasian and African songbird, Luscinia megarhynchos, family Muscicapidae, famed for its beautiful singing at night; a common nightingale.
noun
  1. A kind of flannel scarf with sleeves, formerly worn by invalids when sitting up in bed.
name
  1. A surname.
  2. A hamlet in Wheatland County, Alberta, Canada, named after Florence Nightingale.
noun
  1. A temporary facility built at short notice during the COVID-19 pandemic, or by extension any other emergency.

Pronunciation

/ˈnaɪtɪŋɡeɪl/ en-us-nightingale.ogg

Word forms

nightingale nightingales

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English nyghtyngale, nightingale, niȝtingale, alteration (with intrusive n) of nyghtgale, nightegale, from Old English nihtegala, nihtegale (“nightingale; night-raven”, literally “night-singer”), from Proto-West Germanic *nahtigalā (“nightingale”), equivalent to a compound of night + gale. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Noachtegoal (“nightingale”), Dutch nachtegaal (“nightingale”), German Low German Nachtigall (“nightingale”), German Nachtigall (“nightingale”), Danish nattergal (“thrush nightingale”), Swedish näktergal (“nightingale”), Icelandic næturgali (“nightingale”).

Synonyms

philomel

Derived words

Ceylon nightingale Chinese nightingale common nightingale Dutch nightingale fen nightingale Indian nightingale Irish nightingale Japanese nightingale mock nightingale nightingale finch nightingale floor nightingale of the East nightingale-thrush nightingale-wren Palestine nightingale Persian nightingale Scotch nightingale thrush nightingale Virginia nightingale Florence Nightingale Nightingale ward Nightingale court Swedish Nightingale
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