a brownish European songbird, Luscinia megarhynchos, with a broad reddish-brown tail: well known for its musical song, usually heard at night
any of various similar or related birds, such as Luscinia luscinia ( thrush nightingale )
1200–50; Middle English nightyngale, nasalized variant of nightegale, Old English nihtegale, cognate with German Nachtigall, literally, night singer (compare Old English galan sing; akin to yell )
A nightingale is a very small bird with a beautiful, loud song. If you hear the distinctive whistles of the nightingale, it is most likely a male bird seeking a mate. Nightingales got their name because of the unattached male's habit of singing long into the night (although nightingales also sing during the day). Its song is distinctive and powerful, with trills, whistles, and gurgling sounds punctuating it. The nightingale has inspired writers of all sorts throughout history, including ancient Greeks, the poet Chaucer, and T.S. Eliot in "The Waste Land." The name nightingale combines night with the Proto-Germanic galon, "to sing."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Through the years, she was often compared to her elder sister - who was revered as the "nightingale" of Bollywood and died in 2022 - but Bhosle built a distinct identity.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
Just as the familiar tune “In the Hall of the Mountain King” gradually builds speed “accelerando,” as the compositional notation is known, some birdsong does too, like that of the nightingale.
From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2023
I wonder if even Janet Malcolm might have given a pass to this devoted biographer and his own bow to a nightingale.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 3, 2023
Face masks made of nightingale faeces, used by elite Japanese women for centuries, are one of the stranger beautifying techniques currently resurgent in western salons.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 19, 2019
The hour of the owl, the hour of the wolf, the hour of the nightingale, moonrise and moonset, dusk and dawn, they staggered past like drunkards.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Nightingale says it has now cataloged about 19,000 messages from the agents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
The statue is located just off the Mall and is near the statue of Florence Nightingale and Crimean War Memorial.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
Nightingale birds, the brown-banded carder bee and the five-banded weevil-wasp have also been recorded at the site.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
On Sept. 4, researchers at another not-for-profit group, the Nightingale Collective, found that OpenAI agents undergoing testing had hijacked a German website to communicate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
Albert Nightingale took off a glove, and Joseph flinched, thinking he was going to slap him with it, but he placed his cool palm against Joseph’s burning forehead.
From "The Marvels" by Brian Selznick
Yet prior to the new study, only humans and thrush nightingales have been observed singing songs that have a rhythmical structure—that is, containing features such as a “categorical rhythm.”
From Science Magazine ● Oct. 25, 2021
Knepp boasts the largest population in Britain of the Purple Emperor butterfly; nightingales, after years of decline, are nesting there in rising numbers.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 3, 2019
As the sun goes down on Białowieża, a night chorus of frogs, nightingales and warblers pipes up under its clear and constellated skies.
From The Guardian ● May 18, 2016
They’re highly empathetic and encouraging; they trill as prettily as nightingales and they all play, quite dexterously, their own musical instruments.
From New York Times ● Nov. 19, 2014
He told everyone about the songs of canaries, the diet of kestrels, and the extraordinary migration patterns of nightingales.
From "The Marvels" by Brian Selznick
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