woodpecker

American  

[wood-pek-er] / ˈwʊdˌpɛk ər /

noun

1. any of numerous climbing birds of the family Picidae, having a hard, chisel-like bill that it hammers repeatedly into wood in search of insects, stiff tail feathers to assist in climbing, and usually more or less boldly patterned plumage.

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woodpecker British  

/ ˈwʊdˌpɛkə /

noun

1. any climbing bird of the family Picidae, typically having a brightly coloured plumage and strong chisel-like bill with which they bore into trees for insects: order Piciformes

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Etymology

Origin of woodpecker

First recorded in 1520–30; wood ¹ + pecker

Example Sentences

It’s not too late to save the whooping crane, the red-cockaded woodpecker, the piping plover or any of the other 86 birds on the U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026

"This winter I got a woodpecker and a nuthatch" he said, adding the images were "extraordinary".

From BBC • May 17, 2025

Cooper writes: “As a Black kid in the 1970s, I was rarer than an ivory-billed woodpecker in the very white world of birding.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2024

They continually use their field people and their volunteers to determine, for example, whether the ivory-billed woodpecker is still viable.

From Salon • Dec. 21, 2023

A distant woodpecker drummed against a rotten log.

From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman