curlew

UK/ˈkɜːlju/US/ˈkɝlu/

nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,995 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: curlews

A curlew is a large wader with a long down-curved bill and a sad call. The cry of a curlew, curlews on the moor, a curlew's bill.

The call is one of the most mourned sounds in British nature writing, and the bird is now in serious decline. The name imitates the cry, which is a bubbling rise nobody who has heard it forgets.

Definitions of curlew

1nouncurlewA large wader with a long down-curved bill and a sad call.C1
“A curlew probed the mud with its long curved bill, looking for worms.”

curlew is a bird.

Where it comes from

Old French courlieu is said to imitate the bird's cry.

Old French
courlieu
Middle English
curlew
English, today
curlew

Built from

*corliu · French — runner, messenger

From Middle English curlew, from Old French courlieu (see French courlis), claimed to be imitative of the bird's cry but apparently assimilated with dialectal corliu (“runner, messenger”), a variant of coureur (the bird is adept at running).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Birds

Practise this word

curlew in the wild

In Europe, "curlew" usually refers to one species, the Eurasian curlew (Numenius arquata).
Curlew
The Eurasian curlew or common curlew (Numenius arquata) is a very large wader in the family Scolopacidae.
Eurasian curlew
In Europe, this species is often referred to just as the "curlew", and in Scotland known as the "whaup" in Scots.
Eurasian curlew
The Eskimo curlew (Numenius borealis), also known as northern curlew, is a species of curlew in the family Scolopacidae.
Eskimo curlew
As there has not been a reliable sighting since 1987 or a confirmed sighting since 1963, the Eskimo curlew is considered Critically Endangered or possibly extinct.
Eskimo curlew

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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