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preen

UK/pɹiːn/US/pɹiːn/
verbC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,531 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: preening, preens

To preen is to clean and arrange feathers with the beak. The bird preened, preening on the branch, preen its wing.

It is not vanity but maintenance: the bird spreads oil from a gland near the tail along each feather and zips the barbs back together, and a bird that cannot preen loses waterproofing and warmth. Of a person, to preen is to admire yourself openly.

Definitions of preen

  1. 1verbpreenTo clean and arrange feathers with the beak.C1

    “The swan preened its feathers on the bank before sliding back into the river.”

preen is a grooming.

Where it comes from

Middle English prenen, probably from pren, a pin, from the beak's action.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *brew- — protrusion, tip, edge

  2. Proto-Germanic

    *preunaz

  3. Old English

    prēon

  4. Middle English

    pren

  5. English, today

    preen

From Middle English pren, from Old English prēon, from Proto-Germanic preunaz (compare Icelandic prjónn (“pin, knitting-needle”), Danish pryne (“needle, eel-spear”)), of uncertain origin, but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European brew- (“protrusion, tip, edge”) (compare Lithuanian briaunà (“edge”), Albanian brez (“belt, girdle”)). Cognate with German Pfriem. The verb is from Middle English prenen, from pren (“a preen”), akin to German pfriemen.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Birds

Practise this word

preen in the wild

  • Alternatively, anting could make the insects edible by removing the distasteful acid, or possibly supplement the bird's own preen oil.

    Anting (behavior)

  • As it grows it is golden yellow, but the bird rubs its casque on its preen gland, whose oily secretion tints the surface of the casque bright red.

    Hornbill ivory

  • In some species, the opening of the gland has a small tuft of feathers to provide a wick for the preen oil (see below).

    Uropygial gland

  • In mammals, the gland secretes an oily substance used to preen the fur.

    Harderian gland

  • Because of this, birds spend considerable time each day maintaining their feathers, primarily through preening.

    Preening

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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.