Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Psittacine
/ˈsɪtəsaɪn/adjective
Of or relating to parrots.
The Greek roots
ψιττακός
psittakós
parrot
Literally: “parrot-like”
Follow a root:ψιττακός2 words
The story of the word
The Greeks had no native parrot to name. Ctesias, a physician at the Persian court around 400 BC, described a purple-faced talking bird from India, and the word ψιττακός that came back with the reports is generally taken to be a foreign one, borrowed along with the bird. Alexander's campaigns brought living specimens west, and the silent letter in the English spelling is the last trace of that import route.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
psittacosispsittacism
In a sentence
The ward treats psittacine patients only, from budgerigars to macaws.
Feather-plucking is the most common psittacine stress behaviour in captivity.