chiffchaff

[ chif-chaf, -chahf ]

/ ˈtʃɪfˌtʃæf, -ˌtʃɑf /

noun

a common, greenish Old World warbler, Phylloscopus collybita.

Nearby words

chiefly, chieftain, chiel, chield, chiengmai, chiffchaff, chiffon, chiffonade, chiffonier, chiffonnière, chifforobe

Origin of chiffchaff

First recorded in 1770–80; gradational compound; imitative

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for chiffchaff

In the north of England, as it is in the south, the Chiffchaff is perhaps the most constant pioneer of the spring migrants.
Among the Birds in Northern Shires|Charles Dixon
Chiffchaff and willow-wren came as usual, but they did not arrive in a crowd at once.
Nature Near London|Richard Jefferies
Only a very few days since—it does not seem a week—there was a chiffchaff calling in a copse as merrily as in the spring.
Nature Near London|Richard Jefferies
This name, however, is probably equally applicable to the Chiffchaff.
Birds of Guernsey (1879)|Cecil Smith

The first swallow they looked for, and never missed; but they neither heard nor saw the chiffchaff.
Nature Near London|Richard Jefferies

British Dictionary definitions for chiffchaff

chiffchaff

/ (ˈtʃɪfˌtʃæf) /

noun

a common European warbler, Phylloscopus collybita, with a yellowish-brown plumage

Word Origin for chiffchaff

C18: imitative of its call

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012