Noun: popinjay
| Singular | popinjay |
| Plural | popinjays |
Sample Sentences
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[I]nnumerable popingayes of ſundry kindes are found chattering in the groues of thoſe fenny places. [1555, Peter Martyr of Angleria [i.e., Peter Martyr d’Anghiera], “The Nynth Booke of the Seconde Decade, of the Supposed Continent”, in Rycharde Eden [i.e., Richard Eden], transl., The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India, […], London: […] [Rycharde Jug for] Guilhelmi Powell, →OCLC, 2nd decade, folio 83, recto:]
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The very quintessence of popinjay vulgarity is reached when nicely is made to do service for well, in this wise: "How do you do?" "Nicely." "How are you?" "Nicely." [1881, Alfred Ayres [pseudonym; Thomas Embly Osmun], “Nicely”, in The Verbalist:]
Nouns inflected like popinjay
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
From Middle English popinjay, popyngeay, popingay, popejay, from Anglo-Norman papegai, papejoie et al., (northern) Old French papejai (“parrot”), probably from Old Occitan papagay (compare Occitan papagai, Catalan papagai), ultimately from Arabic بَبْغَاء (babḡāʔ, “parrot”), of imitative origin. See: Catalan Nouns '
papagai'.
Verbs referencing "popinjay"
Italian Nouns
pappagallo, Dutch Nouns
papegaai, Bulgarian Nouns
папагал, Swedish Nouns
papegoja.