chiffchaff

See also: chiff-chaff

English

A chiffchaff.

Alternative forms

• chiff-chaff

Etymology

Echoic of the repetitive "chiff-chaff" song of the European species, Phylloscopus collybita.

• Audio:

  (file)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɪf.t͡ʃæf/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

chiffchaff (plural chiffchaffs)

1. A small, common warbler, Phylloscopus collybita, with yellowish-green plumage that breeds throughout northern and temperate Europe and Asia.
2. Any of several other species of the same genus.
3. (UK, onomatopoeic, uncountable) The song of the chiffchaff.

   I thought I heard something singing chiffchaff, chiffchaff. So I had a look and there was a chiffchaff.

Derived terms

• common chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)
• Iberian chiffchaff (Phylloscopus ibericus)
• Canary Islands chiffchaff (Phylloscopus canariensis)
  • western Canary Islands chiffchaff (Phylloscopus canariensis canariensis)
  • eastern Canary Islands chiffchaff (Phylloscopus canariensis exsul)
• mountain chiffchaff (Phylloscopus sindianus)

Translations

Phylloscopus collybita

• Bulgarian: елов певец (elov pevec)
• Catalan: mosquiter m
• Czech: budníček menší (cs) m
• Dutch: tjiftjaf (nl) m
• Finnish: tiltaltti (fi)
• French: pouillot véloce (fr) m
• German: Zilpzalp (de) m
• Greek: δενδροφυλλοσκόπος m (dendrofylloskópos)
• Hungarian: csilpcsalpfüzike (hu)
• Irish: tiuf-teaf (ga) m
• Italian: luì piccolo m
• Luxembourgish: Zillzapp m
• Norman: tchitte-tes-clius m (Jersey)
• Polish: pierwiosnek (pl) m
• Portuguese: felosa-comum (pt) f
• Romanian: pitulice (ro) f
• Russian: пе́ночка-тенько́вка (ru) f (pénočka-tenʹkóvka)
• Scottish Gaelic: caifean m
• Spanish: mosquitero (es) m
• Swedish: gransångare (sv)
• Turkish: çıvgın (tr)

Phylloscopus species

• Dutch: boszanger (nl) m
• Finnish: uunilintu (fi)

song of chiffchaff

• Finnish: tilt-talt
• Hungarian: csilpcsalp

Further reading

• chiffchaff on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Phylloscopus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies