toucan

[ too-kan, -kahn, too-kahn ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

any of several usually brightly colored, fruit-eating birds of the family Ramphastidae, of tropical America, having a very large bill.
Toucan, Astronomy. the constellation Tucana.

toucan

/ ˈtuːkən /

any tropical American arboreal fruit-eating bird of the family Ramphastidae, having a large brightly coloured bill with serrated edges and a bright plumage

Origin of toucan¹

First recorded in 1550–60; from French, from Portuguese tucano, from Tupi tucan (imitative of its cry)

Origin of toucan¹

C16: from French, from Portuguese tucano, from Tupi tucana, probably imitative of its cry

“One day I wore a multicolored dress and someone asked if I was trying to be Toucan Sam,” she said.

Its topmost branch, when naked with age or dried by accident, is the favourite resort of the toucan.

I believe the bird is a kind of toucan or hornbill, but the people here call it a crane.

At 301 our mess table, over the dishes of toucan and parrot supplied by the camp hunters, they rallied each other boisterously.

If the extraordinary form and size of the bill expose the toucan to ridicule, its colours make it amends.

Here, also, the forests are adorned with the gay plumage of the red and blue macaws, as also by a toucan with a yellow tail.

April 19, 2024tortuous

[tawr-choo-uhs ]

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