nightingale

See also: Nightingale

English

A nightingale

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈnaɪtɪŋɡeɪl/
Audio (US) (file)

Etymology 1

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 night +‎ gale. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Noachtegoal (“nightingale”), Dutch nachtegaal (“nightingale”), Low German Nachtigall (“nightingale”), German Nachtigall (“nightingale”), Danish nattergal (“thrush nightingale”), Swedish näktergal (“nightingale”), Icelandic næturgali (“nightingale”).

Noun

nightingale (plural nightingales)

A Eurasian and African songbird, Luscinia megarhynchos, family Muscicapidae, famed for its beautiful singing at night; a common nightingale.
- 1826, Mary Shelley, chapter 5 in the first part of The Last Man
  The oaks around were the home of a tribe of nightingales.
- 1859, Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia, page 2:
  And David's Lips are lock't; but in divine
  High piping Péhlevi, with "Wine! Wine! Wine!
  Red Wine!" — the Nightingale cries to the Rose
  That yellow Cheek of her's to'incarnadine.
- 1936, F.J. Thwaites, chapter XXII, in The Redemption, Sydney: H. John Edwards, published 1940, page 222:
  The air, too, was heavy with perfume, and a nightingale, high in the heavens, gave out a cheery song of welcome.
Nightingales have been spotted in this coppice.
You sing like a nightingale, sport!

Synonyms

philomel

Derived terms

Ceylon nightingale
Chinese nightingale
common nightingale
Dutch nightingale
Indian nightingale
Irish nightingale
Japanese nightingale
mock nightingale
nightingale finch
nightingale floor
Persian nightingale
Scotch nightingale
thrush nightingale
Virginia nightingale

Translations

bird

Albanian: bilbil (sq) m
Arabic: عَنْدَلِيب‎ m (ʿandalīb), بلبل‎ f (bulbul)
Egyptian Arabic: بلبل‎ m (bulbul)
Gulf Arabic: بلبل‎ m (bulbul)
Armenian: սոխակ (hy) (soxak)
Asturian: ruiseñor m, reiseñor m
Azerbaijani: bülbül (az)
Baluchi: بلبل‎ (bulbul)
Bashkir: һандуғас (handuğas), (poetic) былбыл (bılbıl)
Basque: urretxindor
Belarusian: салаве́й m (salavjéj)
Bengali: please add this translation if you can
Breton: eostig (br) m
Bulgarian: сла́вей (bg) m (slávej)
Burmese: ညတေးသီငှက် (nya.te:sihngak)
Catalan: rossinyol (ca) m
Central Atlas Tamazight: ⴰⵙⵓⴷⴷⵔ (asuddr)
Chechen: цӏир-цӏир (cʼir-cʼir)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 夜鶯／夜莺 (zh) (yèyīng)
Chuvash: шӑпчӑк (šăpčăk)
Crimean Tatar: bülbül
Czech: slavík (cs) m
Danish: sydlig nattergal c
Dutch: nachtegaal (nl) m
Esperanto: najtingalo
Estonian: ööbik (et), (lőunaööbik)
Faroese: suðurnáttargali
Finnish: etelänsatakieli (fi)
French: rossignol philomèle (fr) m, rossignol (fr) m
Old French: russignol m
Friulian: rusignűl ?, usignűl ?
Galician: reiseñor (gl) m, rousinol (gl) m
Georgian: ბულბული (ka) (bulbuli)
German: Nachtigall (de) f
Greek: αηδόνι (el) n (aïdóni), μπιρμπίλι (el) n (birmpíli) (colloquial)
Ancient: ἀηδών f (aēdṓn)
Hebrew: זָמִיר‎ (he) m (zamir)
Hindi: बुलबुल (hi) f (bulbul), अंदलीब (hi) f (andlīb), हजारदास्ताँ (hi) m (hajārdāstā̃)
Hungarian: csalogány (hu), fülemüle (hu)
Icelandic: næturgali (is) m
Ido: naktigalo (io)
Indonesian: bulbul (id)
Irish: filiméala m
Italian: usignolo (it) m
Japanese: サヨナキドリ (sayonakidori)
Kazakh: бұлбұл (būlbūl)
Khmer: please add this translation if you can
Komi-Zyrian: колипкай (kolʹipkaj)
Korean: 나이팅게일 (ko) (naitinggeil)
Kumyk: бюлбюл (bülbül)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: bilbil (ku) m
Kyrgyz: булбул (ky) (bulbul)
Ladin: roscignol ?
Lao: ນົກໂລຊີໂຍນ (nok lō sī nyōn)
Latgalian: laksteigola f
Latin: luscinia f
Latvian: lakstīgala (lv) f
Lezgi: билбил (bilbil)
Ligurian: roscigneu m
Lithuanian: lakštingala f
Low German: Nachtegall f
Luxembourgish: Nuechtegailchen (lb) f
Macedonian: сла́веј m (slávej)
Malay: bulbul
Maltese: rożinjol m, rużinjol m
Mari:
Eastern Mari: шӱшпык (šüšpyk)
Western Mari: шӹжвӹк (šÿžvÿk)
Mingrelian: მაფშალია (mapšalia)
Moksha: цёфкс (cjofks)
Mongolian: гургалдай (mn) (gurgaldaj)
Norman: rossîngno m
Norwegian: sørnattergal ?
Occitan: rossinhòl (oc) m
Old English: nihtegale f
Persian: بلبل‎ (fa) (bolbol), هزاردستان‎ (fa) (hazârdastân), شباهنگ‎ (fa) (šabâhang)
Polish: słowik rdzawy (pl) m, słowik (pl) m
Portuguese: rouxinol (pt) m
Romani: chiriklo-ratiako m, chirikli-ratiaki f
Romanian: privighetoare (ro) f
Romansch: luschaina ?
Russian: солове́й (ru) m (solovéj)
Sami:
Northern Sami: lulličuohtegielaš
Sardinian: arrissiuolu ?, arrassanajolu ?, passirillanti ?
Scottish Gaelic: spideag f, beul-binn m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ма̑лӣ сла̀вӯј m, сла̀вӯј m
Roman: mȃlī slàvūj (sh) m, slàvūj (sh) m
Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
Slovak: slávik (sk) m
Slovene: slavec (sl) m
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: syłojk m, syłojik m, syłojašk m
Upper Sorbian: sołobik m
Spanish: ruiseñor (es) m
Svan: მჷლე̄თილ (məlētil), ხა̈ლიდ (xälid)
Swedish: sydnäktergal (sv) c
Tagalog: ruwisenyor
Tajik: булбул (bulbul), андалеб (andaleb)
Tamil: please add this translation if you can
Tatar: былбыл (tt) (bılbıl), сандугач (tt) (sanduğaç)
Thai: นกไนติงเกล (nók nai-dting-gayn)
Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: bülbül (tr)
Turkmen: bilbil (tk)
Udmurt: уӵы (učy)
Ukrainian: солове́йко m (solovéjko), солове́й m (solovéj)
Urdu: بلبل‎ f (bulbul)
Uyghur: بۇلبۇل‎ (bulbul)
Uzbek: bulbul (uz)
Vietnamese: dạ oanh
Volapük: galit (vo)
Welsh: eos f, eosiaid f pl
West Frisian: geal c
Yiddish: סאָלאָוויי‎ m (solovey)
Zazaki: bılbıl

Etymology 2

Named after Florence Nightingale.

Noun

nightingale (plural nightingales)

A kind of flannel scarf with sleeves, formerly worn by invalids when sitting up in bed.

Anagrams

alightening

Middle English

Noun

nightingale

Alternative form of nyghtyngale