nightingale

CEFRC1

/ˈnaɪtɪŋɡeɪl/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A small bird known for its beautiful song.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

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

Examples

  • Every evening, a nightingale would sing us songs.

  • Florence Nightingale is famous as the woman who began professional nursing.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A surname.

  2. A Eurasian and African songbird, Luscinia megarhynchos, family Muscicapidae, famed for its beautiful singing at night; a common nightingale.

More examples

In context

  • I heard a Japanese nightingale.

  • Some admired the external beauties of the objects they beheld, like the nightingale in love with the roſe.

  • Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet neere day: / It was the Nightingale, and not the Larke, / That pier'ſt the fearefull hollow of thine eare

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The blank sang beautifully in the dark forest, its song echoing through the trees.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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