Jackdaw

//ˈd͡ʒækˌdɔ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A bird of the genus Coloeus, similar in appearance to crows and found within the same family; traditionally associated with church towers and ruins, where it frequently likes to nest.
  2. 2
    common black-and-grey Eurasian bird noted for thievery wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
dawcorvus moneduladawmagpie

Example

More examples

"It's not a crow, but a jackdaw."

Etymology

Compound of jack + daw. The first element, also present in Low German (North Saxon) Jöker (“jackdaw”), may refer either to its characteristic call, often represented as tchak-tchak, maybe influenced by association with the name Jack. The second element means “jackdaw” in itself, from Old English *dāwe, from Proto-Germanic *dēhǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰēk- (“a daw, starling, thrush, similar birds”). Cognate with Old Prussian doacke (“starling”), Latin faccilāre (“the sound or timbre of the thrush”), and German Dohle (“jackdaw”).

Related phrases

coloeus dauuricuscoloeus moneduladaurian jackdaw

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.