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• robin
  robin

  noun

  any of several small Old World birds having a red or reddish breast, especially Erithacus rubecula, of Europe.
• Robin
  Robin

  noun

  a male or female given name: derived from Robert.

robin

¹ American  

[rob-in] / ˈrɒb ɪn /

noun

• robins
  plural

1. any of several small Old World birds having a red or reddish breast, especially Erithacus rubecula, of Europe.

2. a large American thrush, Turdus migratorius, having a chestnut-red breast and abdomen.

3. any of several similar thrushes of the New World tropics, not necessarily having reddish underparts, as T. grayi clay-colored robin, of Mexico and Central America.

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Robin ² American  

[rob-in] / ˈrɒb ɪn /

noun

1. a male or female given name: derived from Robert.

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robin British  

/ ˈrɒbɪn /

noun

1. Also called: robin redbreast. a small Old World songbird, Erithacus rubecula , related to the thrushes: family Muscicapidae . The male has a brown back, orange-red breast and face, and grey underparts

2. a North American thrush, Turdus migratorius , similar to but larger than the Old World robin

3. any of various similar birds having a reddish breast

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• robins
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of robin

First recorded in 1540–50; short for robin redbreast

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Explanation

The sweet-sounding, red-chested birds that symbolize the beginning of spring are robins. There are actually many different birds called robins, and while most share a reddish-orange breast, they're actually distantly related to each other. In the U.S., the bird we think of as a robin is officially the American robin, a kind of thrush. It's the most common land bird in North America, and it's famous for laying eggs very early in the spring — and singing at the crack of dawn. The robin's most deadly predator is the domesticated cat.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

robin Robin robins

We were reading “The Secret Garden” out loud, round robin, and I was bored.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

Sweden believed one of the Canadians was repeatedly double-touching, giving the stone another little prod with his finger to correct its course during Friday's round robin match.

From Barron's ● Feb. 14, 2026

Not even from dreaded rival Canada, which was missing injured star Marie-Philip Poulin, and fell to Team USA 5-0 in the opening round robin.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

It's the final day of the curling round robin stage, with the semi-final line-ups to be determined and – in the case of the men's competition – played on the same day.

From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2026

Osh, waiting above in the skiff, grabbed the rope and hauled me aboard where I gasped and kicked like a sea robin on a hook.

From "Beyond the Bright Sea" by Lauren Wolk

That season of rapture and heartbreak is seared into the local brain, like Robin Yount’s No. 19.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026

Robin Smith runs a stall on Berwick Street.

From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026

I was watching a Robin Williams scene from “Dead Poets Society” when he talks about poetry, literature.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026

But for Robin Maher, the director of the US nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, such matters have always been top-of-mind, she told AFP in an interview.

From Barron's ● Oct. 19, 2026

Robin walked slowly out to the pulpit with a second harpoon, stopping after the first couple of steps to get her balance and maybe find the nerve to keep going.

From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen

Donovan has taken full advantage of the home’s surroundings, regularly sharing videos of the garden on his Instagram account, including a January 2023 clip of a flock of robins visiting a birdbath on the grounds.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 10, 2026

Market hunters used shotguns, nets and traps to fill traincars with passenger pigeons—as well as robins, woodpeckers, blackbirds and orioles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026

There's also a pattern that even though these are Christmas cards, forget the snowy steeples and robins, because royal cards rarely seem to have any signs of winter.

From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2024

"Moving forward, Corey and Amy plan to dissect the mechanisms by which sea robins develop sensory legs for understanding where limbs come and how they specialize for various forms of sensation," Bellono said.

From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2024

Pretty ladies kept robins and sparrows for pets, or tried very hard to teach their magpies to talk.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

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