ibis

See also: Ibis and íbis

English

3 ibis

Etymology

Mentioned in the Wycliffe Bible as ybyn or ibin, as ibys from 16th century and ibis shortly after. From Latin ībis, from Ancient Greek ἶβις (îbis), from Egyptian

(hbj) (compare Coptic ϩⲓⲃⲱⲓ (hibōi) or ϩⲓⲡ (hip)).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈaɪ.bɪs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

ibis (plural ibis or ibises or ibides or ibes)

1. Any of various long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, having long downcurved bills used to probe the mud for prey such as crustaceans.
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Loomings”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 4:

     It is out of the idolatrous dotings of the old Egyptians upon broiled ibis and roasted river horse, that you see the mummies of those creatures in their huge bake-houses the pyramids.

Derived terms

• African sacred ibis
• American white ibis
• Australian white ibis
• bald ibis
• bare-faced ibis
• black-faced ibis
• black ibis
• crested ibis
• giant ibis
• glossy ibis
• green ibis
• hadada ibis
• Madagascar ibis
• plumbeous ibis
• Puna ibis
• Reunion ibis
• sacred ibis
• scarlet ibis
• sharp-tailed ibis
• straw-necked ibis
• white-faced ibis
• wood ibis

 

Translations

Threskiornithid

• Afrikaans: ibis
• Arabic: أَبُو مِنْجَل m (ʔabū minjal)

  Egyptian Arabic: ابو قردان m (ʔabu ʔirdān)

• Armenian: քաջահավ (hy) (kʻaǰahav), ցեծ (cʻec)
• Bulgarian: ибис m (ibis)
• Burarra: garrarla
• Catalan: ibis (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 朱鷺 / 朱鹭 (zh) (zhūlù)

• Dutch: ibis (nl) m
• Egyptian: (hbj)
• Finnish: iibis (fi)
• French: ibis (fr)
• German: Ibis (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἶβις f (îbis)

• Gurindji: warlapurra, warlapura, yuwayuwa
• Ido: ibiso (io)
• Japanese: 朱鷺 (ja) (とき, toki), とき (ja) (toki)
• Kazakh: тырнақұтан (tyrnaqūtan)
• Korean: 따오기 (ko) (ttaogi)
• Kriol: aibis
• Latin: ībis (la) f
• Macedonian: и́бис m (íbis)
• Navajo: tsídiidaashiyishí
• Ngarinman: yuwayuwa
• Ngarrindjeri: tloperi
• Polish: ibis (pl) m
• Portuguese: íbis (pt) m
• Romanian: ibis (ro) m
• Russian: и́бис (ru) m (íbis)
• Slovene: íbis (sl) m
• Spanish: ibis (es) m
• Swahili: kwarara (sw)
• Tagalog: ibis
• Walmajarri: purlungpurlung
• Warlpiri: walaparra
• Welsh: ibis m

Anagrams

• IIBs, Sibi

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ībis, from Ancient Greek ἶβις (îbis), from Egyptian

(hby; hîbu).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈi.βis]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [ˈi.bis]

Noun

ibis m (invariable)

1. ibis

Derived terms

• ibis blanc
• ibis calb
• ibis ermità
• ibis negre
• ibis roig
• ibis sagrat africà

 

Further reading

• “ibis” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “ibis”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “ibis” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “ibis” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Cebuano

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: i‧bis

Noun

ibis

1. an Asiatic glassfish; any member of the family Ambassidae
2. an Indian pellona (Pellona ditchella)

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɪbɪs]

Noun

ibis m anim

1. ibis

Declension

Declension of ibis (mixed masculine animate)

	singular	plural
nominative	ibis	ibisi, ibisové
genitive	ibisa, ibise	ibisů
dative	ibisu, ibisi, ibisovi	ibisům
accusative	ibisa, ibise	ibisy, ibise
vocative	ibise, ibisi	ibisi, ibisové
locative	ibisu, ibisi, ibisovi	ibisech, ibisích
instrumental	ibisem	ibisy, ibisi

Further reading

• “ibis”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “ibis”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch ibis, from Latin ibis, from Ancient Greek ἶβις (îbis), from Egyptian hbj.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈi.bɪs/, /ˈi.bəs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ibis

Noun

ibis m (plural ibissen, diminutive ibisje n)

1. ibis, bird of the family

Derived terms

• bruine ibis
• heilige ibis
• heremietibis
• kaalkopibis
• rode ibis
• witte ibis
• zwarte ibis

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.bis/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

ibis m (plural ibis)

1. ibis

Further reading

• “ibis”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

From Latin ībis, from Ancient Greek ἶβις (îbis), from Egyptian hbj.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈi.bis/
• Rhymes: -ibis
• Hyphenation: ì‧bis

Noun

ibis m (invariable)

1. ibis

Derived terms

• ibis eremita

Anagrams

• bisi

Latin

ībis

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈiː.bis/, [ˈiːbɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈi.bis/, [ˈiːbis]

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek ἶβις (îbis), from Egyptian (hbj).

Noun

ībis f (genitive ībis or ībidis); third declension

1. ibis (wading bird)
   • c. 600 CE – 625 CE, Isidorus Hispalensis, Etymologiae 12.7.33:

     Ībis avis Nīlī flūminis, quae sēmetipsam pūrgat, rōstrō in ānum aquam fundēns. Haec serpentium ōva vēscitur, grātissimam ex eīs ēscam nīdīs suīs dēportāns.

     The ibis is a bird of the river Nile, which purges itself by pouring water into its anus with its beak. It devours the eggs of snakes, carrying from them to its nests the most welcome food.

Usage notes

This noun can be inflected using two different stems (Greek and Latin). They are inconsistently used even within the same author's works; Cicero and Pliny the Elder use both the Latin declension:

1. • c. 45 BCE, Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 5.78:

     Aegyptiōrum mōrem quis ignōrat? quōrum inbūtae mentēs prāvitātis errōribus quamvīs carnificīnam prius subierint quam ībim aut aspidem aut faelem aut canem aut corcodillum violent, quōrum etiamsī inprūdentēs quippiam fēcerint, poenam nūllam recūsent.

     Who doesn't know the custom of the Egyptians? whose minds accustomed to delusions of wrongness would rather undergo as much torture as you want than desecrate the ibis or the asp or the cat or the crocodile, and to whom, even if one inadvertently did something to, he would not refuse any punishment.

   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 30.142:

     Ībium cinere cum adipe ānseris et īrinō perūnctīs—sīc conceptōs partūs continērī.

     • 1855 translation by John Bostock

       The ashes of a burnt ibis, it is said, employed as a friction with goose-grease and oil of iris, will prevent abortion when a female has once conceived.

and the Greek:

1. • 45 BCE, Cicero, De Natura Deorum 1.82:

     Etenim fāna multa spoliāta et simulācra deōrum dē locīs sānctissimīs ablāta vidēmus ā nostrīs, at vērō nē fandō quidem audītum est crocodīlum aut ībin aut faelem violātum ab Aegyptiō.

     Since we see many sanctuaries plundered and statues of gods carried away by our people from the holiest places, but it's not even heard of for a crocodile or an ibis or a cat to be disrespected by an Egyptian.

   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 30.61:

     Īnflātiōnēs discutit cocleārum cibus, tormina liēn ovium tostus atque ē vīnō potus, palumbis ferus ex poscā dēcoctus, adips ōtidis ex vīnō, cinis ībide sine pennīs cremātā potus.

     A diet of snails dispels flatulence, roasted sheep spleen taken with wine, wild woodpigeon taken with vinegar mixed with water, otis goose fat with wine, ashes from an ibis burnt without the feathers drunk, dispel colics.

while Ovid, most notably, uses exclusively the Greek declension:

1. • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.327–331:

     'Duxque gregis' dīxit 'fit Iuppiter; unde recurvīs
     nunc quoque fōrmātus Libys est cum cornibus Ammōn.
     Dēlius in corvō, prōlēs Semelēia caprō,
     fēle soror Phoebī, niveā Sāturnia vaccā,
     pisce Venus latuit, Cyllēnius ībidis ālīs.'

     'And leader of the flock' she said 'is made Jupiter;
     whence Lybian Ammon was also formed now with curved horns.
     Delius hid as a raven, his offspring Semeleia as a billy-goat,
     the sister of Phoebus as a cat, Saturnia as a snow-white cow,
     Venus as a fish, Cyllenius as the wings of an ibis.

The accusative plural form ībidas is encountered as well:

1. • c. 45 CE, Pomponius Mela, De Situ Orbis libri III 3.82:

     Sunt multa volucrum multa serpentium genera: dē serpentibus memorandī maximē, quōs parvōs admodum et venēnī praesentis certō annī tempore ex līmō concrētārum palūdium ēmergere, in magnō exāmine volantēs Aegyptum tendere, atque in ipsō introitū fīnium ab avibus quās ibidas appellant adversō agmine excipī pugnaque cōnficī trāditum est.

Some forms, such as the nominative and genitive plural, are only attested in the Latin declension, while others, such as the genitive and ablative singular, in the Greek. The dative, ablative plural and vocative are unattested.

Declension

Third declension noun (irregular)

	singular	plural
nominative	ībis	ībidēs ībēs
genitive	ībidis ībis	ībidum ībium
dative	ībidī ībī	ībidibus ībibus
accusative	ībidem ībim ībem ībin	ībidas ībidēs
ablative	ībide ībī	ībidibus ībibus
vocative	ībis	ībidēs ībēs

Only attested forms are ībis as nominative singular, ībidis as genitive singular, ībim and ībin as accusative singular, ībide as ablative singular, ībēs as nominative plural, ībium as genitive plural and *ībidas* as accusative plural

Descendants

• English: ibis
• French: ibis
• Italian: ibis
• Portuguese: íbis
• Romanian: ibis
• Spanish: ibis

Etymology 2

Inflected form of eō (“go, proceed”).

Verb

ībis

1. second-person singular future active indicative of eō

References

• “ibis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ibis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ibis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “ibis”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[1]
• “ibis”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Middle English

Noun

ibis

1. ibis: any of various long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, having long downcurved bills used to probe the mud for prey such as crustaceans
   • c. 1382–1395, John Wycliffe [et al.], edited by Josiah Forshall and Frederic Madden, The Holy Bible, […], volume I, Oxford: At the University Press, published 1850, →OCLC, Leviticus XI:12–19, pages 315–316, columns 2 and margin:

     Alle thingis in watris that han not fynnes and scalis, schulen be pollutid, These thingis ben of foulis whiche ȝe schulen not ete, and schulen be eschewid of ȝou; an egle, and a grippe, aliete, and a kyte, and a vultur by his kynde; and al of `rauyns kynde bi his licnesse; a strucioun, and nyȝt crowe, a lare, and an hauke bi his kinde; an owle, and dippere, and ibis*; a swan and cormoraunt, and a pellican; a fawcun, a iay bi his kynde; a leepwynke, and a reremows. […] * ibis, that is, a ciconye, that etith paddokis and serpentis. bcgknqx. ibis, that is, an vnclene watir foule, that with his bille puttynge water into his ers, purgith himsilf. s.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Old Irish

Verb

ibis

1. third-person singular preterite absolute of ibid

Polish

ibis

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ībis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈi.bis/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ibis
• Syllabification: i‧bis

Noun

ibis m animal

1. ibis (any bird of the family Threskiornithidae)

Declension

Declension of ibis

	singular	plural
nominative	ibis	ibisy
genitive	ibisa	ibisów
dative	ibisowi	ibisom
accusative	ibisa	ibisy
instrumental	ibisem	ibisami
locative	ibisie	ibisach
vocative	ibisie	ibisy

Further reading

• ibis in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• ibis in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French ibis, from Latin ibis.

Noun

ibis m (plural ibiși)

1. ibis

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	ibis	ibisul		ibiși	ibișii
genitive-dative	ibis	ibisului		ibiși	ibișilor
vocative	ibisule			ibișilor

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈibis/ [ˈi.β̞is]
• Rhymes: -ibis
• Syllabification: i‧bis

Noun

ibis m (plural ibis)

1. ibis

Derived terms

• ibis blanco

 

Further reading

• “ibis”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Tagalog

Etymology 1

From Greater Central Philippine *əbəs (“below; descend”). Compare Cebuano ubos and Maranao bes (“baby; full term fetus development”).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ʔiˈbis/ [ʔɪˈbis]
• Rhymes: -is
• Syllabification: i‧bis

Noun

ibís (Baybayin spelling ᜁᜊᜒᜐ᜔)

1. alighting (from a vehicle or animal)

   Synonyms: baba, pagbaba, lunsad, paglunsad

2. unloading of cargo

   Synonyms: diskarga, pagdidiskarga

3. aid given to unload a burden (on the head or shoulders)

   Antonyms: atang, pag-aatang

4. unharnessing (of a work animal)

   Synonyms: awas, pag-aawas

5. (figurative) relief from hardship, pain, sorrow, etc.

Derived terms

• ibsan
• ibsin
• kaibsan
• mag-ibis
• magpaibis
• maibsan
• pag-ibis
• pag-iibis
• pagkaibis
• umibis

 

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈʔibis/ [ˈʔiː.bɪs]
• Rhymes: -ibis
• Syllabification: i‧bis

Noun

ibis (Baybayin spelling ᜁᜊᜒᜐ᜔)

1. a type of silver fish from the genus Carassius

Further reading

• “ibis”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

Anagrams

• sibi, bisi