kookaburra

kookaburra

English

WOTD – 31 December 2011

A kookaburra

Etymology

Borrowed from Wiradhuri guuguubarra (“laughing kookaburra”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkʊkəˌbʌɹə/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈkʊkəˌbaɹə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkʊkəˌbʌɹə/, /ˈkʊkəˌbɝɹə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  (accents without the hurry–furry merger)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  (accents with the hurry–furry merger)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

kookaburra (plural kookaburras)

1. Any of several species of kingfishers in the genus Dacelo.

Synonyms

• (informal): kooka, kooky
• (laughing kookaburra): clockbird, goburra, gogobera, laughing jackass, jackass, Jacky
• (blue-winged kookaburra): howling jackass, Leach's kingfisher

Derived terms

Derived terms

• blue-winged kookaburra
• laughing kookaburra
• rufous-bellied kookaburra
• spangled kookaburra

Translations

kingfishers

Arabic: كوكابورا‎ Asturian: cucaburra m Belarusian: кукаба́ра f (kukabára) Bulgarian: кукабура f (kukabura) Catalan: cucaburra m Chinese: Mandarin: 笑翠鳥／笑翠鸟 (xiàocuìniǎo), 柯卡布拉 (kēkǎbùlā) Dutch: kookaburra (nl) Esperanto: kukabarao Estonian: kuukabarra Finnish: nauraja (fi) French: kookaburra (fr) m, martin-chasseur géant (fr) m Gamilaraay: gurruulga, gugaa, gugurrgaagaa German: Jägerliest m, Kookaburra m Greek: κουκαμπούρα f or n (koukampoúra) Guugu Yimidhirr: gugurrgaagaa Hebrew: קוּקברה‎ Hungarian: kokabura Indonesian: kukabura (id) Irish: cúcabarra Italian: kookaburra m Japanese: ワライカワセミ (warai kawasemi), 笑翡翠 (わらいかわせみ, warai kawasemi), 笑い翡翠 (わらいかわせみ, warai kawasemi) Kaurna: kukatka, ngungana Korean: 쿠카부라 (kukabura) Norwegian: kokaburra Ossetian: кукабаррӕ (kukabarræ) Panyjima: nhithinypa Persian: کوکابورا‎ (kokâburâ) Polish: kukabura (pl) f Portuguese: kookaburra f, cucaburra f Punjabi: ਕੂਕਾਬਰਾ (kūkābrā) Russian: кукаба́ра f (kukabára), кукаба́рра (ru) f (kukabárra), кукабу́рра f (kukabúrra), гига́нтский зиморо́док m (gigántskij zimoródok) Samoan: kukapala Slovak: kukabara f Spanish: cucaburra f Swedish: kookaburra c, kokaburra c Tagalog: kukabura Tamil: கூக்கபரா (kūkkaparā) Welsh: cwcabyra m Western Panjabi: کوکابرا‎ Wiradhuri: guuguubarra, guguburra

References

• Dixon, R. M. W., Bruce Moore, W. S. Ramson, Mandy Thomas (2006) Australian Aboriginal Words in English: Their Origin and Meaning, 2nd ed. edition, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 86

Further reading

• kookaburra on Wikipedia.Wikipedia