chough

From Middle English choughe, choȝe, coo, cheo, from Old English ċēo (“a bird of the genus Corvus, a jay, crow, jackdaw, chough”) and ċeahhe (“a daw”), both from Proto-West Germanic *kahu (“jackdaw, crow”), from imitative Proto-Indo-European *gewH- (“to crow, caw, shout”).

Cognate with Scots kae (“jackdaw”), West Frisian ka (“jackdaw”), Dutch kauw (“jackdaw, daw, chough”), Swedish kaja (“jackdaw”).

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃʌf/
• (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌf
• Homophone: chuff

chough (plural choughs)

1. Either of two species of bird of the genus Pyrrhocorax in the crow family Corvidae that breed mainly in high mountains and on coastal sea cliffs of Eurasia.
   • c. 1521, John Skelton, Speke Parott:

     For parot is no churlish Chowgh, nor no flekyd pye
     Parrot is no pendugum, that men call a carlyng
     Parrot is no woodecocke, nor no butterfly
     Parrot is no stameryng stare, y^t men call a starlyng
     But Parot is my owne dere harte, & my dere derlĩg

2. The white-winged chough, of genus Corcorax in the Australian mud-nest builders family, Corcoracidae, that inhabits dry woodlands.

   Synonym: hermit-crow

• alpine chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus)
• red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)
• white-winged chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos)
• yellow-billed chough