hummingbird
noun
Simple meaning
Any of different small American birds in the family Trochilidae that have the ability to hover.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
huhmihngberdSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhʌmɪŋbɚd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Any of various small American birds in the family Trochilidae that have the ability to hover.
Tiny American bird having brilliant iridescent plumage and long slender bills; wings are specialized for vibrating flight
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: Any of various small American birds in the family Trochilidae that have the ability to hover.
Used this way, hummingbird is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. It turns up most in family or home contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Family/home
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.