passerine
pas·ser·ine/ˈpæsəɹaɪn/adjective, noun
passerine is spelled P-A-S-S-E-R-I-N-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables (pas·ser·ine). It appears about once in every 19 million words in written English, the 131,834th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, passerine means “Of or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds, which are generally anisodactyl, having three toes pointing forward and one back, which…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in passerine?
| Letters | 9: P-A-S-S-E-R-I-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: pas·ser·ine |
| In writing | about once in every 19 million words; the 131,834th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is passerine?
Passerine appears about once in every 19 million words in written English, the 131,834th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce passerine?
- UK /ˈpæsəɹaɪn/
- UK /-ɹən/
- UK /-ɹiːn/
Passerine has 3 syllables, split pas·ser·ine in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-passerine3.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-passerine1.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-passerine2.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of passerine
- passerines plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does passerine mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds, which are generally anisodactyl, having three toes pointing forward and one back, which facilitates perching.
- 2
archaicapproximately the size of a sparrow.
noun
- 1
Any bird of the order Passeriformes, which comprises more than half of all bird species.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Passerine in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense any bird of the order Passeriformes:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | passerine, passereau |
| Portuguese | pássaro, passarinho |
| Spanish | paseriforme |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does passerine come from?
Adjective sense 1 is borrowed from New Latin Passer (“bird genus”) (from Latin passer (“sparrow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly (in the sense of spreading out wings)”)) + English -ine (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Adjective sense 2 is borrowed from New Latin passerinus (“bird species”) + English -ine. Passerinus is derived from Latin passerīnus (“of or fit for sparrows”), from passer (“sparrow”) (see above) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).