Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Sparrow |
SparrowNoun1. Any of several small dull-colored singing birds feeding on seeds or insects. 2. Small brownish European songbird. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "sparrow" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Bible | Sparrow Mentioned among the offerings made by the very poor. Two sparrows were sold for a farthing (Matt. 10:29), and five for two farthings (Luke 12:6). The Hebrew word thus rendered is _tsippor_, which properly denotes the whole family of small birds which feed on grain (Lev. 14:4; Ps. 84:3; 102:7). The Greek word of the New Testament is _strouthion_ (Matt. 10:29-31), which is thus correctly rendered. Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. |
Dream Interpretation | To dream of sparrows, denotes that you will be surrounded with love and comfort, and this will cause you to listen with kindly interest to tales of woe, and your benevolence will gain you popularity. To see them distressed or wounded, foretells sadness. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Slang in 1811 | SPARROW. Mumbling a sparrow; a cruel sport frequently practised at wakes and fairs: for a small premium, a booby having his hands tied behind him, has the wing of a cock sparrow put into his mouth: with this hold, without any other assistance than the mot. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: SparrowSynonyms: dunnock (n), hedge sparrow (n), true sparrow (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Sparrow |
| English words defined with "sparrow": Burion ♦ Chippy ♦ Diamond finch ♦ Eyasmusket ♦ family Prunellidae, feather, fledge ♦ genus Melospiza, genus Spizella, grass finch, Greenfinch ♦ Hairbird, house sparrow ♦ immature ♦ Lark sparrow ♦ Maalin, Melospiza, Mountain sparrow ♦ Passer montanus, Peabody bird, Pinnock, Prunellidae ♦ Quail hawk ♦ reed bunting, Rock sparrow ♦ Sage sparrow, Savanna sparrow, Segge, Shufflewing, Sparhawk, sparrow hawk, Sparve, Spizella, swamp sparrow ♦ Titling, tree sparrow, Twite ♦ unfledged ♦ Whin Sparrow, Willow ptarmigan. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "sparrow": Dunmow ♦ WHANGDEPOOTENAWAH. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "sparrow": ostrich ♦ Passeres ♦ Sparable ♦ Titling ♦ Water sparrow. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Lyrics | Buy for me a sparrow, almost any flying thing. (Buy For Me the Rain; performing artist: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail (EL CONDOR PASA (IF I COULD); performing artist: Simon and Garfunkel) | |
Clever | A spoken word is not a sparrow. Once it flies out, you can't catch it. (references; author: Russian Proverb) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Solo for Sparrow (1962) The Fallen Sparrow (1943) A City Sparrow (1920) Sebastian and the Sparrow (1989) Eye on the Sparrow (1987) | |
Song Titles | Keep Your Eye On The Sparrow (Baretta) (performing artist: Rhythm Heritage) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | F-15 Eagle rolls and launches an Aim-7 "Sparrow" missile. |  | Far shot of sparrow, Lakeview District. Credit: Terry Spivey. |
 | Sparrow, Lakeview District. Credit: Terry Spivey. |  | Unhappy sparrow on branch with two courting sparrows. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Angry male sparrow with female gesturing to other bird. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Sparrow talking to coy female sparrow. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Sparrow feeding young with spoon. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | A Russian home on Sparrow Hills, a Sunday pleasure resort of Moscow, Russia. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Country Joe & the Fish, the Sparrow, The Doors--Break on through to the other side / Moscoso. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Levittown houses. Mrs. Dorothy Aiskelly, residence at 44 Sparrow Lane. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Play | Caption |
 | Sparrow; bird call. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Gaius Valerius Catullus | Mourn, ye Graces and Loves, and all you whom the Graces love. My lady's sparrow is dead, the sparrow, my lady's pet. |
Russian Proverb | A spoken word is not a sparrow. Once it flies out, you can't catch it. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | It was the sparrow pecking at the hunters. |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | As the sparrow had its trill, sitting on the hickory before my door, so had I my chuckle or suppressed warble which he might hear out of my nest. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Expansion of irrigated agriculture in the North Platte River Valley during the past several decades has created habitats and conditions favorable for increases in populations of granivorous birds such as the house sparrow, Passer domesticus, and mosquitoes such as Cx. tarsalis, Aedes dorsalis and Aedes melanimon. (references) | |
Economic History | Egypt | Technical and maintenance support for HAWK, Chaparral and Sparrow Air Defense Systems, and the Avenger Air Defense System. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | WHANGDEPOOTENAWAH, n. In the Ojibwa tongue, disaster; an unexpected affliction that strikes hard. Should you ask me whence this laughter, Whence this audible big-smiling, With its labial extension, With its maxillar distortion And its diaphragmic rhythmus Like the billowing of an ocean, Like the shaking of a carpet, I should answer, I should tell you: From the great deeps of the spirit, From the unplummeted abysmus Of the soul this laughter welleth As the fountain, the gug-guggle, Like the river from the canon [sic], To entoken and give warning That my present mood is sunny. Should you ask me further question -- Why the great deeps of the spirit, Why the unplummeted abysmus Of the soule extrudes this laughter, This all audible big-smiling, I should answer, I should tell you With a white heart, tumpitumpy, With a true tongue, honest Injun: William Bryan, he has Caught It, Caught the Whangdepootenawah! Is't the sandhill crane, the shankank, Standing in the marsh, the kneedeep, Standing silent in the kneedeep With his wing-tips crossed behind him And his neck close-reefed before him, With his bill, his william, buried In the down upon his bosom, With his head retracted inly, While his shoulders overlook it? Does the sandhill crane, the shankank, Shiver grayly in the north wind, Wishing he had died when little, As the sparrow, the chipchip, does? No 'tis not the Shankank standing, Standing in the gray and dismal Marsh, the gray and dismal kneedeep. No, 'tis peerless William Bryan Realizing that he's Caught It, Caught the Whangdepootenawah! |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Sparrow" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 76.58% of the time. "Sparrow" is used about 158 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 76.58% | 121 | 29,211 |
| Noun (proper) | 23.42% | 37 | 56,631 |
| Total | 100.00% | 158 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "sparrow" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Sparrow | Last name | 3,000 | 3,678 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
| The following table summarizes names derived from the word "sparrow". | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Meaning |
| Zippor | N/A | Biblical | Sparrow |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references.
| |||
Expressions using "sparrow": chipping sparrow ♦ cock sparrow ♦ english sparrow ♦ Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile ♦ field sparrow ♦ Fox sparrow ♦ hedge sparrow ♦ house sparrow ♦ Java sparrow ♦ Lark sparrow ♦ little Sparrow ♦ male sparrow ♦ mountain sparrow ♦ new World sparrow ♦ reed sparrow ♦ rock sparrow ♦ sage sparrow ♦ satin sparrow ♦ savanna sparrow ♦ song sparrow ♦ sparrow bill ♦ sparrow grass ♦ sparrow hawk ♦ sparrow owl ♦ sparrow spear ♦ swamp sparrow ♦ Tang sparrow ♦ thatch sparrow ♦ tree sparrow ♦ true sparrow ♦ vesper sparrow ♦ water sparrow ♦ whin Sparrow. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "sparrow": sparrow-fart, sparrow-hawk, sparrow-hawks, sparrow-like, sparrow-sized. | |
Ending with "sparrow": cock-sparrow, hedge-sparrow. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
sparrow | 487 | eye on sparrow | 25 |
his eye is on the sparrow | 121 | chipping sparrow | 24 |
hospital sparrow | 112 | eyes his sparrow | 22 |
sparrow house | 92 | health sparrow system | 20 |
sparrow bird | 75 | jacobs sparrow | 19 |
sparrow record | 71 | jack sparrow | 17 |
hawk and the sparrow | 59 | eyes his lyrics sparrow | 16 |
eye his lyrics sparrow | 58 | hurricane in sparrow two | 15 |
sparrow trap | 57 | car sparrow | 14 |
corbin sparrow | 57 | captain jack sparrow | 13 |
sparrow point md | 57 | music sparrow | 13 |
baby sparrow | 55 | car electric sparrow | 13 |
song sparrow | 50 | black press sparrow | 12 |
sparrow tattoo | 45 | nest sparrow | 11 |
mighty sparrow | 39 | roberta sparrow | 11 |
sparrow picture | 37 | sparrow hospital lansing michigan | 10 |
eggs sparrow | 27 | eye lyrics sparrow | 10 |
sparrow bush ny | 26 | house picture sparrow | 10 |
english sparrow | 25 | baby feeding sparrow | 10 |
lake sparrow | 25 | lake ontario sparrow | 10 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "sparrow"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Afrikaans | mossie. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | trumcak (Wren), harabel. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | العصفور, الدوري. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Blackfoot | pisspsksi (sparrow hawk). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | врабче (spadler). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 麻雀 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | vrabec. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | spurv. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | mus (rat, rattus). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | pasero. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faeroese | spurvur. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | گنجشگ خانگی(ج.ش.), انواع گنجشگ . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | varpunen. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | moineau, passereau. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frisian | mosk. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Spatz (mite, tot), Sperling. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | σπουργίτι. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | א קור (bunting), בארית, צפור (bird, fowl). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | veréb. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | burung pipit. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Irish | gealbhan. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | passero. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 黄雀 , 雀 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | すずめ, "うじゃく. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 참새. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | sparroo, jallyn (cock sparrow), giallyn, gialloon. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Papago | o'odopiwa. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | arrowspay pardal. (various references) vrabie. (various references) воробей. (various references) speireag (sparrow-hawk), riabhag (a lark, hedge sparrow, woodlark), gealbhonn (a sparrow). (various references) vrabac (cock sparrow). (various references) gorrión. (various references) sparv. (various references) serçe. (various references) serзi, serзe. (various references) горобець. (various references) aderyn y to. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | passer. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Proverbs Chapter 26, Verse 2 |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Sicut avis ad alia transvolans et passer quolibet vadens sic maledictum frustra prolatum in quempiam superveniet |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | For as a brid to heye thingus ouerfleende, and a sparewe whider hym list goende; so curs in veyn spoken in to sum man shal comen ouer. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | As the sparrow in her wandering and the swallow in her flight, so the curse does not come without a cause. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Proverbs Chapter 26, Verse 2 |
| Cebuano | ¶ Maingon sa gorion sa iyang pagpanaw, maingon sa ayaw sa iyang paglupad, Mao man ang pagpanghimaraut nga walay gipasikaran dili matuman. |
| Croatian | Kao vrabac kad prhne i lastavica kad odleti, tako se i bezrazložna kletva ne ispunja. |
| Danish | Som en Spurv i Fart, som en Svale i Flugt så rammer ej Banden mod sagesløs Mand. |
| Dutch | Gelijk de mus is tot wegzweven, gelijk een zwaluw tot vervliegen, alzo zal een vloek, die zonder oorzaak is, niet komen. |
| Finnish | Kuin liitävä lintu, kuin lentävä pääskynen on aiheeton kirous: ei se toteen käy. |
| French | Comme l`oiseau s`échappe, comme l`hirondelle s`envole, Ainsi la malédiction sans cause n`a point d`effet. |
| German | Wie ein Vogel dahinfährt und eine Schwalbe fliegt, also ein unverdienter Fluch trifft nicht. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Seperti burung terbang dan melayang-layang di udara, begitu juga kutukan tak bisa kena pada orang yang tak bersalah. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Seperti burung pipit terbang ke sana ke mari dan seperti burung layang-layang terbang berkeliling, demikianpun kutuk yang tiada dengan semena-mena itu tak boleh terkena. |
| Italian | Come il passero che svolazza, come la rondine che vola, così una maledizione senza motivo non avverr . |
| Maori | ¶ He pera i te manu e rererere noa ana, i te waroa i ona rerenga te kanga pokanoa; e kore e whakatau. |
| Norwegian | Som spurven i fart, som svalen i flukt, slik er det med en uforskyldt forbannelse - den rammer ikke. |
| Portuguese | Como o pássaro no seu vaguear, como a andorinha no seu voar, assim a maldição sem causa não encontra pouso. |
| Rumanian | Cum sare vrabia kncoace wi kncolo wi cum sboarq rkndunica, awa nu nimerewte blestemul nekntemeiat. - |
| Russian | лБЛ ЧПТП'ЕК ЧУ ПТИОЕФ, ЛБЛ МБУФПЮЛБ ХМЕФЙФ, ФБЛ ОЕЪБУМХЦЕООПЕ ТПЛМСФЙЕ ОЕ У'Х"ЕФУС. |
| Swedish | Såsom sparven far sin kos, och såsom svalan flyger bort, så far en oförtjänt förbannelse förbi. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "sparrow": sparrowlike, sparrows. (additional references) | |
| |
"Sparrow" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: parrow, Sbarro, Scardroy, scarrow, Sharrow, sparro. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "sparrow" (pronounced spe"rō) |
| 3 | -e" r ō | aero, bolero, bracero, Caballero, embarcadero, Faro, marrow, Montero, narrow, Pharaoh, sombrero, Taro, Yarrow. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-o-p-r-r-s-w" | |
-1 letter: arrows, prowar. | |
-2 letters: arrow, parrs, praos, proas, prows, roars, sapor, sowar, warps, wraps. | |
-3 letters: oars, orra, osar, parr, pars, paws, pows, prao, proa, pros, prow, raps, rasp, raws, roar, rows, soap, soar, sora, spar, swap, swop, waps, warp, wars, wasp, wops, wrap. | |
-4 letters: ars, asp, oar, ops, ora, ors, par, pas, paw, pow, pro. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-o-p-r-r-s-w" | |
+1 letter: sparrows. | |
+2 letters: airpowers, spearwort, warpowers. | |
+3 letters: paperworks, spearworts, sportswear, vaporwares. | |
+4 letters: brainpowers, palmerworms, pawnbrokers, plasterwork, ropewalkers, sparrowlike, swordplayer, waterpowers, waterproofs, wraparounds. | |
+5 letters: plasterworks, praiseworthy, swordplayers. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Fiction 11. Quotations: Non-fiction 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Names: Frequency 14. Names: Derived from 15. Expressions 16. Expressions: Internet | 17. Translations: Modern 18. Translations: Ancient 19. Bible Trace 20. Derivations | 21. Rhymes 22. Anagrams 23. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
