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rara avis

[ rair-uh ey-vis; Latin rah-rah ah-wis ]
/ ˈrɛər ə ˈeɪ vɪs; Latin ˈrɑ rɑ ˈɑ wɪs /
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noun, plural ra·rae a·ves [rair-ee ey-veez; Latin rah-rahy ah-wes] /ˈrɛər i ˈeɪ viz; Latin ˈrɑ raɪ ˈɑ wɛs/.

a rare person or thing; rarity.

RELATED WORDS

paradox, circumstance, sensation, experience, reality, incident, miracle, aspect, episode, anomaly, event, fact, phenomenon, oddity, curiosity, spectacle, marvel, stunner, exception, abnormality

Nearby words

  1. raptures,
  2. rapturous,
  3. rapturously,
  4. raptus,
  5. rar,
  6. rare,
  7. rare bird, a,
  8. rare book,
  9. rare earth,
  10. rare earths

Origin of rara avis

First recorded in 1600–10, rara avis is from the Latin word rāra avis rare bird
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for rara avis

rara avis

/ (ˈrɛərə ˈeɪvɪs) /

noun plural rarae aves (ˈrɛəriː ˈeɪviːz)

an unusual, uncommon, or exceptional person or thing

Word Origin for rara avis

Latin: rare bird
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

Word Origin and History for rara avis

rara avis

n.

c.1600, "peculiar person," from Latin rara avis, literally "strange bird," from rara, fem. of rarus "rare" (see rare (adj.1)) + avis "bird" (see aviary). Latin plural is raræ aves. Horace's peacock (a Roman delicacy), Juvenal's black swan ("Rara avis in terris, nigroque simillima cygno").

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper