rara avis

[rair-uh ey-vis; Latin rah-rah ah-wis]

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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.

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

Related Words for rara avis

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

British Dictionary definitions for rara avis

rara avis

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

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").