What does "phalarope" mean?

Any of three small wading birds in the genus Phalaropus, of the family Scolopacidae, that have lobed toes.

What is a synonym for "phalarope"?

Common synonyms include: little swimmer, magpie, sea goose, sea goose.

Pronounced //ˈfæləɹəʊp//.

//ˈfæləɹəʊp// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Any of three small wading birds in the genus Phalaropus, of the family Scolopacidae, that have lobed toes.
2
small sandpiper-like shorebird having lobate toes and being good swimmers; breed in the Arctic and winter in the tropics wordnet

From New Latin Phalaropus, formed irregularly from Ancient Greek φαλαρίς (phalarís, “coot”) + πούς (poús, “foot”).

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