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• robin
  robin

  noun

  any of several small Old World birds having a red or reddish breast, especially Erithacus rubecula, of Europe.
• Robin
  Robin

  noun

  a male or female given name: derived from Robert.

robin

¹ American  

[rob-in] / ˈrɒb ɪn /

noun

• robins
  plural

1. any of several small Old World birds having a red or reddish breast, especially Erithacus rubecula, of Europe.

2. a large American thrush, Turdus migratorius, having a chestnut-red breast and abdomen.

3. any of several similar thrushes of the New World tropics, not necessarily having reddish underparts, as T. grayi clay-colored robin, of Mexico and Central America.

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Robin ² American  

[rob-in] / ˈrɒb ɪn /

noun

1. a male or female given name: derived from Robert.

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robin British  

/ ˈrɒbɪn /

noun

1. Also called: robin redbreast.  a small Old World songbird, Erithacus rubecula , related to the thrushes: family Muscicapidae . The male has a brown back, orange-red breast and face, and grey underparts

2. a North American thrush, Turdus migratorius , similar to but larger than the Old World robin

3. any of various similar birds having a reddish breast

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• robins
  plural

Etymology

Origin of robin

First recorded in 1540–50; short for robin redbreast

Explanation

The sweet-sounding, red-chested birds that symbolize the beginning of spring are robins. There are actually many different birds called robins, and while most share a reddish-orange breast, they're actually distantly related to each other. In the U.S., the bird we think of as a robin is officially the American robin, a kind of thrush. It's the most common land bird in North America, and it's famous for laying eggs very early in the spring — and singing at the crack of dawn. The robin's most deadly predator is the domesticated cat.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

robin Robin robins

We were reading “The Secret Garden” out loud, round robin, and I was bored.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Not even from dreaded rival Canada, which was missing injured star Marie-Philip Poulin, and fell to Team USA 5-0 in the opening round robin.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

A man's remarkable friendship with a robin on the shores of Lough Neagh has proved a viral hit.

From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2025

Next February's 75th NBA All-Star Game will feature a three-team round robin tournament with two teams of United States players and a World squad of global talent, the league announced on Tuesday.

From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2025

So I stood and listened, just for a minute, like a hungry robin listening for worms.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

That’s the conclusion of research conducted by Robin Greenwood and Andrei Shleifer of Harvard University and Yang You of the University of Hong Kong.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026

With 2013’s “Blurred Lines,” Robin Thicke and Pharrell set out to make a groovy single in the vein of Marvin Gaye.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026

Robin Milton a livestock farmer on Exmoor said: "From my own perspective I'm quite ambivalent. There's no direct impacts on me on the moment. But there's been problems reported."

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

The museum will also screen “Seeing Is Believing: The Story of Narrative Art,” a new documentary series it commissioned from Robin Dashwood.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

Robin was talking to the spotter pilot over the radio, and Ray was listening on the headphones to see if he could pick up the shark’s ping.

From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen

Donovan has taken full advantage of the home’s surroundings, regularly sharing videos of the garden on his Instagram account, including a January 2023 clip of a flock of robins visiting a birdbath on the grounds.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 10, 2026

Market hunters used shotguns, nets and traps to fill traincars with passenger pigeons—as well as robins, woodpeckers, blackbirds and orioles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026

There's also a pattern that even though these are Christmas cards, forget the snowy steeples and robins, because royal cards rarely seem to have any signs of winter.

From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2024

Even when burying capsules that contained only a single chemical, the sea robins could quickly find them.

From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2024

Several facts suggested that the robins were being poisoned, not so much by direct contact with the insecticides as indirectly, by eating earthworms.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson