toucan

[ too-kan, -kahn, too-kahn ]

/ ˈtu kæn, -kɑn, tuˈkɑn /

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noun

any of several usually brightly colored, fruit-eating birds of the family Ramphastidae, of tropical America, having a very large bill.

Toucan, Astronomy. the constellation Tucana.

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Origin of toucan

First recorded in 1550–60; from French, from Portuguese tucano, from Tupi tucan (imitative of its cry)

Words nearby toucan

tottering, tottery, tottie, totting, totty, toucan, toucanet, touch, touch and go, touchback, touch base

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use toucan in a sentence

That immersion in nature — squawking toucans and all — sparked his fascination with science and evolution.
Marcos Simões-Costa asks how cells in the embryo get their identities|Aina Abell|September 29, 2022|Science News
“One day I wore a multicolored dress and someone asked if I was trying to be Toucan Sam,” she said.
Was Ann Curry Fired For Her Style?|Isabel Wilkinson|August 8, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Its topmost branch, when naked with age or dried by accident, is the favourite resort of the toucan.
Wanderings in South America|Charles Waterton
I believe the bird is a kind of toucan or hornbill, but the people here call it a crane.
A Voyage in the 'Sunbeam'|Annie Allnut Brassey

At 301 our mess table, over the dishes of toucan and parrot supplied by the camp hunters, they rallied each other boisterously.
The Sea and the Jungle|H. M. Tomlinson
If the extraordinary form and size of the bill expose the toucan to ridicule, its colours make it amends.
Wanderings in South America|Charles Waterton
Here, also, the forests are adorned with the gay plumage of the red and blue macaws, as also by a toucan with a yellow tail.
The Western World|W.H.G. Kingston

British Dictionary definitions for toucan

toucan

/ (ˈtuːkən) /

noun

any tropical American arboreal fruit-eating bird of the family Ramphastidae, having a large brightly coloured bill with serrated edges and a bright plumage

Word Origin for toucan

C16: from French, from Portuguese tucano, from Tupi tucana, probably imitative of its cry

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