parakeet: [16] Parakeet is an anglicization of Old French paraquet. Like the roughly contemporary parrot, this seems to have begun life as a diminutive form of the name Pierre ‘Peter’ (several species of bird, such as the magpie and robin, have been given human names).
parakeet (n.)
1620s, from Spanish perquito; earlier English form parroket (1580s) is from Middle French paroquet, from Old French paroquet (14c.), which is said by etymologists of French to be from Italian parrocchetto, literally "little priest," from parroco "parish priest," from Church Latin parochus (see parish), or parrucchetto, diminutive of parrucca "peruke, periwig," in reference to the head plumage.
The Spanish form, meanwhile, is sometimes said to be a diminutive of Perico, familiar form of Pedro "Peter," and the Old French word is likewise perhaps from or influenced by a diminutive of Pierre "Peter." The relations of the Spanish and Italian forms, and the influence of folk etymology on either or both, are uncertain.
实用例句
1. They are like the parakeet in the mine — they are a good barometer of what's going on.
他们就像矿区的长尾小鹦鹉,就像温度计反映出周围的变化.
来自《简明英汉词典》
2. I had a little yellow parakeet when I was young.
