kingfisher

American  

[king-fish-er] / ˈkɪŋˌfɪʃ ər /

noun

kingfishers plural

1. any of numerous fish- or insect-eating birds of the family Alcedinidae that have a large head and a long, stout bill and are usually crested and brilliantly colored.

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kingfisher British  

/ ˈkɪŋˌfɪʃə /

noun

1. any coraciiform bird of the family Alcedinidae, esp the Eurasian Alcedo atthis, which has a greenish-blue and orange plumage. Kingfishers have a large head, short tail, and long sharp bill and tend to live near open water and feed on fish

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• kingfishers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of kingfisher

1400–50; king + fisher; replacing king's fisher, late Middle English kinges fisher

Explanation

A kingfisher is a colorful bird that catches fish by diving dramatically into the water. The Australian kookaburra is the largest species of kingfisher. Among about 90 different kingfisher species, most have brilliant blue feathers and a very long, pointed bill. These bright birds are mainly found in tropical climates near rivers and other bodies of water, making fish and crustaceans the major part of their diet. Etymologists know the bird's original name was king's fisher (with the fisher part being self-explanatory), but the rest of the word's history is unknown.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

kingfisher kingfishers

The streamlined beak of the kingfisher, which enters the water almost without a splash, became the model for the nose of Japan’s bullet train.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

The wildlife beauty contest gives the colourful kingfisher and common frog an equal chance of a place on the next series of Bank of England notes.

From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026

"To get all the kingfisher DNA, we used specimens in the Field Museum's collections," says Eliason, who works in the Field's Grainger Bioinformatics Center and Negaunee Integrative Research Center.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 24, 2023

The kingfisher abounds in Egyptian art; on the wall of the Green Room it appears amid the stems and umbels of a dense papyrus thicket at the moment it takes its helldive.

From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2023

I heard a small splashing but imagined it to be the kingfisher diving for its prey.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

The site has also attracted blue herons, kingfishers, otters, deer, bears, California condors and a resident herd of elk notorious for tearing up new seedlings.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Other birds in the area include pygmy owls, belted kingfishers and wild turkey.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2025

Volunteers who monitor the site have seen kingfishers for the first time.

From BBC ● May 28, 2024

Kingfishers incubate typically five to seven eggs for about three weeks, and once the eggs have hatched the kingfishers will spend around four weeks raising the chicks.

From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2024

‘Now what would you say that it is, Anborn? A squirrel, or a kingfisher? Are there black kingfishers in the night-pools of Mirkwood?’

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien