jackdaw

English

Coloeus monedula

Etymology

Compound of jack +‎ daw. The first element, also present in Low German (North Saxon) Jöker (“jackdaw”), may refer either to its characteristic call, often represented as tchak-tchak, maybe influenced by association with the name Jack. The second element means “jackdaw” in itself, from Old English *dāwe, from Proto-Germanic *dēhǭ, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰēk- (“a daw, starling, thrush, similar birds”). Cognate with Old Prussian doacke (“starling”), Latin faccilāre (“the sound or timbre of the thrush”), and German Dohle (“jackdaw”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdʒækˌdɔː/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒækˌdɔ/, /ˈd͡ʒækˌdɑ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ækdɔː, -ækdɑ
• Hyphenation: jack‧daw

Noun

jackdaw (plural jackdaws)

1. A European bird (Coloeus monedula) of the crow family, often nesting in church towers and ruins.

   Synonyms: caddow, daw, western jackdaw, Eurasian jackdaw, sea crow

2. A Daurian jackdaw, a closely related Asian bird (Coloeus dauuricus).

Translations

Coloeus monedula

• Albanian: stërqokë (sq) f, galë (sq) f
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: dolaşa (az), zağça
• Bashkir: сәүкә (səwkə)
• Basque: bele txiki
• Belarusian: ка́ўка f (káŭka), га́лка f (hálka)
• Breton: kavan-tour
• Bulgarian: ча́вка (bg) f (čávka)
• Catalan: gralla (ca) f, cucala (ca)
• Chechen: човка (čovka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 寒鴉／寒鸦 (zh) (hányā)

• Crimean Tatar: çavke
• Czech: kavka (cs) f
• Danish: allike (da) c
• Dutch: kauw (nl) m, torenkraai f
• Esperanto: monedo
• Estonian: hakk
• Evenki: тураки (turaki)
• Faroese: rókur m
• Finnish: naakka (fi)
• French: choucas (fr) m
• Friulian: cornete, çore cenerine
• Galician: gralla cereixeira, gralla (gl) f
• Georgian: ჭკა (č̣ḳa)
• German: Dohle (de) f
• Greek: κάργια (el) (kárgia), καρακάξα (el) f (karakáxa), καλιακούδα (el) f (kaliakoúda)

  Ancient: κολοιός m (koloiós)

• Hebrew: קאק m (ka'ák)
• Hungarian: csóka (hu)
• Icelandic: dvergkráka (is) f
• Ido: chuvo (io)
• Ingrian: snaakka
• Irish: cág m
• Italian: taccola (it) f
• Japanese: ニシコクマルガラス (ja) (nishikokumarugarasu), コクマルガラス (kokumarugarasu)
• Korean: 서양갈까마귀 (seoyanggalkkamagwi), 갈까마귀 (ko) (galkkamagwi)
• Kumyk: жагъа (jağa)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: قەلەڕەشە (qelerreşe)

• Ladin: agacion, cornacia
• Latgalian: čāguons m
• Latin: monēdula f, grāculus m
• Latvian: kovārnis (lv) m
• Lithuanian: kuosa (lt) f
• Low German: Dohl f, Krickelkreih f
• Luxembourgish: Steekueb m
• Macedonian: чавка (mk) f (čavka)
• Maltese: ċawla f
• Manchu: ᡨᠠᠩᡤᡡᡥᠠ (tanggūha)
• Manx: caaig doo-chassagh m
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: чаҥа (čaŋa)

  Western Mari: цӓнгӓ (cängä)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kaie (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: kaie f

• Occitan: gralhon
• Persian: زاغچه (fa) (zâğče)
• Polish: kawka (pl) f
• Portuguese: gralha de nuca cinzenta
• Romanian: stăncuță (ro) f
• Romansch: tulaun (curnagl grisch)
• Russian: га́лка (ru) f (gálka)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: toardnagájon

• Sardinian: tàccula, carroga, carroghedda
• Scottish Gaelic: cadhag f, cathag f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ча̑вка f, чавче f (diminutive form)

  Roman: čȃvka (sh) f, čavče f (diminutive form)

• Slovak: kavka f
• Slovene: kavka (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: kawka f

  Upper Sorbian: kawka f

• Spanish: grajilla (es) f
• Swedish: kaja (sv) c, alika (sv) c
• Turkish: küçük karga (tr)
• Udmurt: ӵана (čana)
• Ukrainian: га́лка (uk) f (hálka)
• Welsh: jac-y-do m, jac-do m
• West Frisian: ka

Coloeus dauuricus — see Daurian jackdaw

Further reading

• “jackdaw”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “jackdaw”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.