passerine

American  

[pas-er-in, -uh-rahyn, -uh-reen] / ˈpæs ər ɪn, -əˌraɪn, -əˌrin /

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.

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noun

1. any bird of the order Passeriformes.

passerine British  

/ 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

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noun

1. any bird belonging to the order Passeriformes

passerine Scientific  

/ păs′ə-rīn′ /

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.

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Other Word Forms

• nonpasserine
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of passerine

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

passerine

Using this approach, the researchers estimated how passerine body shapes changed over roughly 45 million years of evolution.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 30, 2026

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.

From Science Magazine ● Mar. 16, 2022

There is at least one exception to the smaller-is-sweeter rule: Australia's pheasant-size superb lyrebird, a type of passerine, is "undoubtedly the bird with the world's most complex song," Remsen says by email.

From National Geographic ● Jul. 4, 2015

They’re actually of controversial position within the passerine radiation, seemingly not grouping within any of the four major clades within Passerida.

From Scientific American ● Feb. 6, 2013

Most ornithologists agree that some of the passerine families of current classifications are artificial groups.

From Myology and Serology of the Avian Family Fringillidae A Taxonomic Study by William B. Stallcup