English Explanatory Dictionary

pettychaps

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Any of several species of small European passerine songbirds, including the willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus), the chiffchaffs (Phylloscopus spp.), and the western Orphean warbler (Sylvia hortensis).

Word forms

pettychaps

Etymology

Uncertain. Probably imitative of the bird’s call, with influence from petty (“small”) and either chap (“jaw; bill of a bird”) or chap (“person”). Alternatively, perhaps directly from petty (in turn from Middle English pety (“tiny”)) and chaps (“jaws”). Attested from the 1670s.

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