godwit

English

Godwit

Etymology

Origin unknown. A surface analysis would suggest Old English *gōdwiht as the term's ultimate origin, corresponding to good +‎ wight (“creature”), but the term is attested only since late Middle English. The Oxford English Dictionary considers the term to probably have originally been imitative of the bird's call.

Pronunciation

• enPR: gŏdˈ -wĭt
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑd.wɪt/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɒd.wɪt/

Noun

godwit (plural godwits)

1. Any of four species of long-billed migratory wading birds in the genus Limosa, of the family Scolopacidae.
   • c. 1610, Ben Jonson, The Alchemist:

     My foot-boy shall eat pheasants, calvered salmons, / Knots, godwits, lampreys: I myself will have / The beards of barbels, served instead of salads […]

Synonyms

• (long-billed wading birds): yarwhelp (dated), yarwip (archaic)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica)
• black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa)
• Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica)
• marbled godwit (Limosa fedoa)

Translations

Long-billed wading bird

• Afrikaans: griete
• Arabic: بقويقة (biqwayiqa)
• Breton: marc'heg (br) m
• Bulgarian: крайбрежен бекас m (krajbrežen bekas)
• Catalan: tètol m
• Cornish: marhek
• Czech: břehouš (cs)
• Danish: kobbersneppe c
• Dutch: grutto (nl) m
• Esperanto: limozo
• Finnish: kuiri (fi)
• French: barge (fr) f
• German: Schnepfe (de) f
• Greek: λιμόζη f (limózi)
• Hungarian: goda (hu)
• Icelandic: jaðrakanar
• Italian: pittima (it) f
• Latvian: puskuitalas m
• Low German:

  German Low German: Grütto

• Maori: kuaka
• Navajo: tábąąsdísí jáádnézí
• Polish: rycyk m
• Russian: верете́нник (ru) m (vereténnik)
• Spanish: picopando m
• Swahili: msese
• Tamil: மூக்கன் (ta) (mūkkaṉ)
• Venetan: vétoła f
• Welsh: rhostog f
• West Frisian: skriezen