skylark

English

Wikispecies

A skylark.

Etymology

From sky +‎ lark.

Verb sense 1809, originally nautical, possibly influenced by northern English dialectal term lake/laik (“to play”) (from Old Norse leika (“to play (as opposed to work)”)); see lark for details.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈskʌɪ.lɑːk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈskaɪ.lɑɹk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌɪlɑːk, -aɪlɑɹk

Noun

skylark (plural skylarks)

1. A small brown passerine bird, Alauda arvensis, that sings as it flies high into the air.

Derived terms

• Eurasian skylark (Alauda arvensis)
• Japanese skylark (Alauda japonica)
• oriental skylark (Alauda gulgula)

Translations

small brown passerine bird

• Albanian: çerdhukël (sq) f, laureshë e madhe f, laureshë (sq) f, larushe f
• Arabic: قُبَّرَة f (qubbara)
• Asturian: calandra (ast)
• Azerbaijani: torağay (az)
• Belarusian: жа́варанак m (žávaranak)
• Breton: alc'hweder sant Pęr
• Bulgarian: чучули́га (bg) f (čučulíga)
• Catalan: alosa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雲雀／云雀 (zh) (yúnquè)

• Czech: skřivan polní m
• Danish: sanglærke (da) c
• Dutch: veldleeuwerik (nl) m
• Esperanto: alaŭdo (eo)
• Estonian: pőldlőoke
• Finnish: kiuru (fi), leivo (fi), leivonen (fi)
• French: alouette des champs (fr) f
• Friulian: lodule, odule
• Galician: laverca (gl) f
• Gallurese: calandru
• Georgian: ტოროლა (ka) (ṭorola)
• German: Feldlerche (de) f
• Hungarian: mezei pacsirta (hu), süsétek
• Icelandic: sönglævirki (is) m
• Irish: fuiseog f, circín starraiceach m
• Italian: allodola (it) f, alauda (it) f (poetic)
• Japanese: 雲雀 (ja) (hibari)
• Kalmyk: торһа (torğa)
• Kannada: ಬಾನಾಡಿ (kn) (bānāḍi)
• Korean: 종다리 (ko) (jongdari), 노고지리 (nogojiri) (obsolete)
• Kumyk: торгъай (torğay)
• Ladin: lodola
• Latin: alauda f
• Latvian: lauku cīrulis
• Lithuanian: vieversys (lt)
• Lule Sami: vitsur, gieddeurjjá
• Macedonian: чучулига f (čučuliga)
• Maltese: alwetta f
• Maori: kairaka
• Norman: alouaette m, alout'raesse f, alouette f
• Northern Sami: leivvoš
• Occitan: alauseta (oc) f
• Polish: skowronek polny m
• Portuguese: cotovia (pt) f, laverca (pt) f, calandra (pt) f, calhandra (pt) f
• Romani: chiriklo-gilibano m, chirikli-gilibani f
• Romanian: ciocârlie (ro) f
• Romansch: lodola
• Russian: жа́воронок (ru) m (žávoronok)
• Sami: leivvoš
• Sardinian: allòdola

  Campidanese: calandiri, calandironi

  Logudorese: prantaritta

• Sassarese: accuccadìta
• Scots: laverock
• Scottish Gaelic: uiseag f, topag f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пољска шева f

  Roman: poljska ševa (sh) f

• Slovak: škovránok m
• Slovene: poljski škrjanec m
• Southern Altai: бос торкой (bos torkoy)
• Spanish: alondra común (es) f
• Swedish: sånglärka (sv)
• Tamil: வானம்பாடி (ta) (vāṉampāṭi)
• Turkish: tarla kuşu (tr)
• Ukrainian: жа́йворонок m (žájvoronok)
• Upper Sorbian: škowrončk
• Venetian: lòdoła f
• Vietnamese: chiền chiện (vi)
• Vilamovian: liychła
• Volapük: felalaud
• Welsh: ehedydd
• West Frisian: ljurk

Verb

skylark (third-person singular simple present skylarks, present participle skylarking, simple past and past participle skylarked)

1. (dated, originally nautical) To jump about joyfully, frolic; to play around, play tricks.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 5:

     I cherished no malice towards him, though he had been skylarking with me not a little in the matter of my bedfellow.

Derived terms

• skylarker
• skylarking

References

• Google Ngram Viewer: "skylark, skylarking"

  Peak usage 1900—1925, steady decline thereafter.

• Cultural Studies Review, October 2008, p. 40:

  "...'skylarking' is a somewhat outmoded term..."