liver bird

短语

利物鸟

发音

UK /ˈlaɪvə ˌbɜːd/

词形变化

liver birds 复数 liver birds

释义与例句

n.
  1. 1.

    A cormorant-like bird which symbolizes the English city of Liverpool.

词源

The etymology of the first element is uncertain. Perhaps simply a clipping of Liverpool. However, the word was identified in Randle Holme III's Academie of Armorie (1688) with German Löffler (“spoonbill”), as well as Low Dutch (i.e. Low German) forms cited as "Lepler, or Lepelner, or Lefler". If this etymology is true, it might have been adopted due to the rebus this word made on the name Liverpool. Also compare Dutch lepelaar (“spoonbill”). Either way, the modern vowel in the first syllable is unexplained.

来源：wiktionary