godwit

godwit

English

Godwit

Etymology

Origin unknown. A surface analysis would suggest Old English *gōdwiht as the term's ultimate origin, corresponding to good +‎ wight (“creature”), but the term is attested only since late Middle English.[1] The Oxford English Dictionary considers the term to probably have originally been imitative of the bird's call.[1]

Pronunciation

• enPR: gŏdˈ -wĭt
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑd.wɪt/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɒd.wɪt/

Noun

godwit (plural godwits)

1. Any of four species of long-billed migratory wading birds in the genus Limosa, of the family Scolopacidae.
   • c.1610, Ben Jonson, The Alchemist

     My foot-boy shall eat pheasants, calvered salmons, / Knots, godwits, lampreys: I myself will have / The beards of barbels, served instead of salads […]

Synonyms

• (long-billed wading birds): yarwhelp (dated), yarwip (archaic)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica)
• black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa)
• Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica)
• marbled godwit (Limosa fedoa)

Translations

Long-billed wading bird

Afrikaans: griete Arabic: بقويقة‎ (biqwayiqa) Breton: marc'heg (br) m Bulgarian: крайбрежен бекас m (krajbrežen bekas) Catalan: tètol m Cornish: marhek Czech: břehouš (cs) Danish: kobbersneppe c Dutch: grutto (nl) c Esperanto: limozo Finnish: kuiri (fi) French: barge (fr) f German: Schnepfe (de) f Greek: λιμόζη f (limózi) Hungarian: goda (hu) Icelandic: jaðrakanar Italian: pittima (it) f Latvian: puskuitalas m Low German: German Low German: Grütto Maori: kuaka Navajo: tábąąsdísí jáádnézí Polish: rycyk m Russian: верете́нник (ru) m (vereténnik) Spanish: picopando m Swahili: msese Tamil: மூக்கன் (ta) (mūkkaṉ) Venetian: vétoła f Welsh: rhostog f West Frisian: skriezen

References

1. “godwit, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022.