passerine

[pas-er-in, -uh-rahyn, -uh-reen]

adjective

1. of, belonging, or pertaining to the order Passeriformes, comprising more than half of all birds and typically having the feet adapted for perching.

2. oscine.

noun

1. any bird of the order Passeriformes.

passerine

/ ˈpæsəˌraɪn, -ˌriːn /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or belonging to the Passeriformes, an order of birds characterized by the perching habit: includes the larks, finches, crows, thrushes, starlings, etc

noun

1. any bird belonging to the order Passeriformes

passerine

1. Belonging to the avian order Passeriformes, which includes the perching birds. Passerine birds make up more than half of all living birds. They are of small to medium size, have three toes pointing forward and one pointing back, and are often brightly colored. Larks, swallows, jays, crows, wrens, thrushes, cardinals, finches, sparrows, and blackbirds are all passerine birds.

Other Word Forms

• nonpasserine adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of passerine¹

1770–80; < Latin passerīnus of a sparrow, equivalent to passer sparrow + -īnus -ine ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of passerine¹

C18: from Latin passer sparrow

Example Sentences

Ms McRobert said the warbler, one of the passerine order, or perching birds, was only able to make the journey from west to east, not in the other direction.

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In 2012, evolutionary biologist Catherine Sheard started an ambitious Ph.D. project: measuring the shape of every kind of passerine, or perching bird, in the world.

Read more on Science Magazine

“The wetlands will provide foraging and rearing habitat for a diversity of coastal dependent and migratory shorebirds, waterfowl and passerine species, including for example black oystercatchers, greater yellowlegs and red-necked grebe.”

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Nearly two decades later, the sparrow's adaptation to North America was a noteworthy passerine triumph.

Read more on Salon

Based on the DNA sequences and a handful of fossils of known age, the team reconstructed how the various passerine families were related and when they branched off.

Read more on Scientific American