waxwing
Meaning
a brown songbird with a pointed crest and red, waxy-looking tips on its secondary wing feathers.
Structure
Usage
the bohemian waxwing is a winter visitor to the british isles.
we spotted a flock of cedar waxwings feeding on the berry-laden trees.
the bright red, waxy tips on its wings make the waxwing easily identifiable.
Etymology
The term "waxwing" is a transparent English compound, first recorded in the early 19th century. It directly combines "wax," referring to the material's smooth, shiny, and often red-tinted appearance, with "wing," denoting the bird's flight appendages. The name is a purely descriptive reference to the unique, wax-like red droplets found on the tips of the bird's secondary wing feathers. This literal, visual characteristic provides the entire logic for the modern ornithological term, with no deeper etymological evolution from classical languages.
Analysis
wax (old english, meaning a substance like beeswax, here used attributively to describe appearance); wing (old english, meaning a limb for flight).