skylark

skylark

English

A skylark.

Wikispecies

Etymology

From sky +‎ lark.

Verb sense 1809, originally nautical, possibly influenced by northern English dialectal term lake/laik (“to play”) (from Old Norse leika (“to play (as opposed to work)”)); see lark for details.[1]

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈskʌɪ.lɑːk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈskaɪ.lɑɹk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌɪlɑːk, -aɪlɑɹk

Noun

skylark (plural skylarks)

1. A small brown passerine bird, Alauda arvensis, that sings as it flies high into the air.

Derived terms

• Eurasian skylark (Alauda arvensis)
• Japanese skylark (Alauda japonica)
• oriental skylark (Alauda gulgula)

Translations

small brown passerine bird

Albanian: laureshë (sq) f Arabic: قُبَّرَة‎ f (qubbara) Azerbaijani: torağay (az) Belarusian: жа́варанак m (žávaranak) Breton: alc'hweder sant Pęr Bulgarian: чучули́га (bg) f (čučulíga) Catalan: alosa (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 雲雀／云雀 (zh) (yúnquè) Czech: skřivan polní m Danish: sanglærke (da) c Dutch: veldleeuwerik (nl) m Esperanto: alaŭdo (eo) Estonian: pőldlőoke Finnish: kiuru (fi), leivo (fi), leivonen (fi) French: alouette des champs (fr) f Friulian: lodule, odule Galician: laverca (gl) f Gallurese: calandru Georgian: ტოროლა (ka) (ṭorola) German: Feldlerche (de) f Hungarian: mezei pacsirta (hu), süsétek Icelandic: sönglævirki (is) m Irish: fuiseog f, circín starraiceach m Italian: allodola (it) f, alauda (it) f (poetic) Japanese: 雲雀 (ja) (hibari) Kalmyk: торһа (torğa) Kannada: ಬಾನಾಡಿ (kn) (bānāḍi) Korean: 종다리 (ko) (jongdari), 노고지리 (nogojiri) (obsolete) Kumyk: торгъай (torğay) Ladin: lodola Latin: alauda f Latvian: lauku cīrulis Lithuanian: vieversys (lt) Lule Sami: vitsur, gieddeurjjá Macedonian: чучулига f (čučuliga) Maltese: alwetta f Norman: alouaette m, alout'raesse f, alouette f Northern Sami: leivvoš Occitan: alauseta (oc) f Polish: skowronek polny m Portuguese: cotovia (pt) f, laverca (pt) f, calandra (pt) f, calhandra (pt) f Romani: chiriklo-gilibano m, chirikli-gilibani f Romanian: ciocârlie (ro) f Romansch: lodola Russian: жа́воронок (ru) m (žávoronok) Sami: leivvoš Sardinian: allòdola Campidanese: calandiri, calandironi Logudorese: prantaritta Sassarese: accuccadìta Scots: laverock Scottish Gaelic: uiseag f, topag f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: пољска шева f Roman: poljska ševa (sh) f Slovak: škovránok m Slovene: poljski škrjanec m Spanish: alondra común (es) f Swedish: sånglärka (sv) Tamil: வானம்பாடி (ta) (vāṉampāṭi) Turkish: tarla kuşu (tr) Ukrainian: жа́йворонок m (žájvoronok) Upper Sorbian: škowrončk Venetian: lòdoła f Vietnamese: chiền chiện (vi) Vilamovian: liychła Volapük: felalaud Welsh: ehedydd West Frisian: ljurk

Verb

skylark (third-person singular simple present skylarks, present participle skylarking, simple past and past participle skylarked)

1. (dated, originally nautical) To jump about joyfully, frolic; to play around, play tricks.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 5:

     I cherished no malice towards him, though he had been skylarking with me not a little in the matter of my bedfellow.

Derived terms

• skylarker
• skylarking

References

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “skylark”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• Google Ngram Viewer: "skylark, skylarking"

  Peak usage 1900—1925, steady decline thereafter.

• Cultural Studies Review, October 2008, p. 40:

  "...'skylarking' is a somewhat outmoded term..."