kestrel

English

A common kestrel.

Wikispecies

Etymology

From Middle English castrel (“staniel, bird of prey”), from Middle French cresserelle, crecerelle (“bird of prey”), derivative of crecelle (“rattle, wooden reel”), of obscure origin.

Derivation from the assumed Vulgar Latin *crepicella, *crepitacillum, a diminutive of crepitāculum, from crepitāre (“to crackle”) is difficult to explain from a morphological point of view.

Instead, possibly from a root *krek-, *krak- (“to crack, rattle, creak, emit a bird cry”), from Middle Dutch crāken (“to creak, crack”), from Old Dutch *krakōn (“to crack, creak, emit a cry”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną (“to emit a cry, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerg- (“to shout”).

Cognate with Old High German krahhōn (“to make a sound, crash”), Old English cracian (“to resound”), French craquer (“to emit a repeated cry, used of birds”). More at creak, crack.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈkɛstɹəl/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛstɹəl

Noun

kestrel (plural kestrels)

Any of various small falcons of the genus Falco that hover while hunting.
- 1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native, book 3 chapter 6
  When she was musing she was a kestrel, which hangs in the air by an invisible motion of its wings.
- 1917, John Masefield, Up on the Downs
  Up on the downs the red-eyed kestrels hover,
  Eyeing the grass.
  The field mouse flits like a shadow into cover
  As their shadows pass.
The common kestrel, Falco tinnunculus.

Synonyms

(common kestrel): windhover, staniel

Derived terms

American kestrel, Falco sparverius
banded kestrel, Falco zoniventris
common kestrel, Falco tinnunculus
Dickinson's kestrel, Falco dickinsoni
fox kestrel, Falco alopex
greater kestrel, Falco rupicoloides
grey kestrel, Falco ardosiaceus
lesser kestrel, Falco naumanni
Malagasy kestrel, Falco newtoni
Mauritius kestrel, Falco punctatus
Nankeen kestrel, Falco cenchroides
Seychelles kestrel, Falco araeus
spotted kestrel, Falco moluccensis

Translations

any small falcon of genus Falco

Afrikaans: valk
Breton: falc'hun
Bulgarian: сокол (bg) m (sokol)
Catalan: falcó (ca) m
Czech: poštolka (cs) f
Danish: falk (da) c
Dutch: valk (nl) m
Esperanto: falko
Faroese: falkur m, smyril m
Finnish: jalohaukka (fi), haukka (fi)
French: crécerelle (fr) f
Friulian: falcon m
Galician: falcón m
German: Falke (de) m
Greek: κιρκινέζι (el) n (kirkinézi)
Ancient: κέρχνη f (kérkhnē)
Hungarian: vércse (hu)
Icelandic: fálki (is) m, haukur (is), valur (is)
Ido: falkono (io)
Irish: pocaire gaoithe (ga) m
Italian: falco (it) m, falcone (it) m
Kashmiri: بٕہٕر‎ (bụhụr), بٕۂر‎ (bụhạr)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: شاھین‎ (ku) (shAheen)
Ladin: falcon m
Latin: falco m
Low German: Falk m
Lower Sorbian: sokoł m
Luxembourgish: Kréchel
Macedonian: сокол m (sokol)
Neapolitan: castariello m
Norwegian: falk (no), hauk (no)
Polish: sokół (pl) m
Portuguese: falcão (pt) m
Romani: falkono m
Romansch: creivel, falcun
Russian: пустельга́ (ru) (pustelʹgá)
Scottish Gaelic: speireag ruadh f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: соко m (Bosnia, Serbia), сокол m (Croatia)
Roman: soko (sh) m (Bosnia, Serbia), sokol (sh) m (Croatia)
Slovak: sokol (sk) m
Slovene: sokol (sl) f
Spanish: cernícalo (es) m
Swedish: falk (sv) c
Turkish: kerkenez (tr)
Ukrainian: сокіл m (sokil), сапсан m (sapsan)
Upper Sorbian: sokoł m
Welsh: cudyll m, cudyllod m pl
West Frisian: falk m

Falco tinnunculus

Arabic:
Moroccan Arabic: بوعميرة‎ (boʿemira)
Belarusian: звычайнага пустальга (zvyčajnaha pustalʹha)
Breton: falc’hun logotaer
Bulgarian: черношипа ветрушка (černošipa vetruška), керкенез (bg) (kerkenez)
Catalan: xoriguer (ca) m, xoriguer gros m, xoriguer comú m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 紅隼／红隼 (zh) (hóngzhǔn), 茶隼 (zh) (cházhǔn), 紅鷹／红鹰 (hóngyīng)
Min Nan: 紅鷹, 红鹰 (âng-eng), 茶隼 (tê-chún)
Czech: poštolka obecná f
Danish: tårnfalk (da)
Dutch: torenvalk (nl) m
Esperanto: turfalko, kestrelo
Estonian: tuuletallaja
Faroese: grýtissmyril m, tornfalkur m
Finnish: tuulihaukka (fi)
French: faucon crécerelle (fr) m, crécerelle (fr) f
Galician: lagarteiro m, peneireiro m
German: Turmfalke (de) m
Greek: βραχοκιρκίνεζο n (vrachokirkínezo)
Ancient Greek: κέρχνη f (kérkhnē)
Hungarian: vörös vércse (hu)
Icelandic: turnfálki (is)
Irish: bod gaoithe (ga) m, bodaire gaoithe (ga) m, pocaire gaoithe (ga) m, pocaire gaoithe coiteann (ga) m, seabhac buí (ga) m, seabhac gaoithe (ga) m
Italian: gheppio (it) m
Korean: 황조롱이 (hwangjorong'i)
Lithuanian: pelėsakalis (lt)
Norwegian: tårnfalk
Persian: دلیجه‎ (dalije)
Polish: pustułka (pl) f
Portuguese: peneireiro-vulgar m
Romanian: vindereu (ro) m, vânturel (ro) m
Romansch: (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan) crivel, (Surmiran) creivel m, (Vallader) cribel m, (Sursilvan) falcun m, (Surmiran) feila l'ora f, (Puter, Vallader) falcun brün m, (Puter, Vallader) filadè m, (Vallader) battalaura f
Russian: пустельга́ обыкнове́нная f (pustelʹgá obyknovénnaja), пустельга́ (ru) f (pustelʹgá)
Scottish Gaelic: clamhan ruadh m
Slovak: sokol myšiar
Slovene: navádna postôvka f
Spanish: cernícalo común m
Swedish: tornfalk (sv) c
Telugu: నామవాచకం (te) (nāmavācakaṁ)
Turkish: bayağı kerkenez (tr)
Ukrainian: боривітер (uk) (boryviter), постільга (postilʹha)
Vietnamese: chim cắt
Walloon: cressale (wa) f
Welsh: cudyll coch
West Frisian: reade wikel

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Albanian: ^{(please verify)} skifteri kthetrazi, ^{(please verify)} petriti
Basque: ^{(please verify)} belatz gorri, ^{(please verify)} belatz handi
Friulian: ^{(please verify)} falcuç di cjampanili
Ladin: ^{(please verify)} filadressa
Latvian: ^{(please verify)} lauka piekūns
Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} sakalis (lt)
Macedonian: ^{(please verify)} ветрушка (vetruška)
Maltese: ^{(please verify)} spanjulett
Norman: ^{(please verify)} êteurcélet m (Jersey)
Occitan: ^{(please verify)} moisset ros (oc)
Sardinian: ^{(please verify)} tzrepedderi, ^{(please verify)} spradderi
Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} vjetruša (sh)
Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} ветрушка/^{(please verify)} vetruška (sh)
Turkish: ^{(please verify)} kerkenez (tr)
Upper Sorbian: ^{(please verify)} wěžowy sokoł, ^{(please verify)} pustawa

Anagrams

Kestler, Sterkel, kelters, skelter