chough

English

Wikispecies

red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), in Ireland

Alpine chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus), in Switzerland

Etymology

From Middle English choughe, choȝe, coo, cheo, from Old English ċēo (“a bird of the genus Corvus, a jay, crow, jackdaw, chough”) and ċeahhe (“a daw”), both from Proto-West Germanic *kahu (“jackdaw, crow”), from imitative Proto-Indo-European *gewH- (“to crow, caw, shout”).

Cognate with Scots kae (“jackdaw”), West Frisian ka (“jackdaw”), Dutch kauw (“jackdaw, daw, chough”), Swedish kaja (“jackdaw”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃʌf/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌf
• Homophone: chuff

Noun

chough (plural choughs)

1. Either of two species of bird of the genus Pyrrhocorax in the crow family Corvidae that breed mainly in high mountains and on coastal sea cliffs of Eurasia.
   • c. 1521, John Shelton, Speke Parott‎^[1], archived from the original on 2020-12-05, lines 205–210:

     For Parrot is no churlish chowgh, nor flekyd pye, (chough; peacock) / Parrot is no pendugum that men call a carlyng, (witch) / Parrot is no woodecocke, nor no butterfly, / Parrot is no stameryng stare, that men call a starlyng; (starling) / But Parrot is my owne dere harte and my dere derling. (dear) / Melpomene, that fayre mayde, she burneshed his beke: (polished) / I pray you, let Parrot have lyberte to speke.

2. The white-winged chough, of genus Corcorax in the Australian mud-nest builders family, Corcoracidae, that inhabits dry woodlands.

   Synonym: hermit-crow

Derived terms

• alpine chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus)
• red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)
• white-winged chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos)
• yellow-billed chough

Translations

bird of Pyrrhocorax

• Asturian: choya (ast), chova (ast), cuerva (ast), graya (ast)
• Bulgarian: червенокрака гарга f (červenokraka garga)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 山鴉／山鸦 (shānyā)

• Cornish: chogha m, palores f
• Czech: kavče n
• Esperanto: pirokorako
• Finnish: alppivaris (fi)
• French: crave (fr)
• Galician: choia (gl) f
• German: Bergkrähe (de) f
• Hungarian: csóka (hu)
• Irish: cág cosdearg m
• Italian: gracchio (it) m
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: قاژوومەڕە (qajûmerre)

• Persian: زاغ (fa) (zâğ)
• Polish: wrończyk m
• Portuguese: gralha (pt) f
• Russian: клу́шица (ru) f (klúšica)
• Spanish: chova f
• Swedish: alpkråkor (sv) c pl (common name for the genus), alpkaja (sv) c (Pyrrhocorax graculus), alpkråka (sv) c (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)
• Welsh: brân Gernyw f, brân goesgoch f

white-winged chough

• Finnish: mutavaris (fi)
• Polish: skałowron m