tufted titmouse
tufted titmouse Lexical Profile
• noun
North American A small, highly active North American songbird (Baeolophus bicolor) in the tit and chickadee family, distinguished by its grey upperparts, white underparts, rust-colored flanks, and a prominent grey crest of feathers on its head.
"We sat quietly by the window watching a tufted titmouse grab a black oil sunflower seed from the feeder before darting back to the safety of the oak tree."
Word Nuance & Usage
Take care with the plural form 'tufted titmice'; although the bird has no biological connection to rodents, folk etymology historically altered the word 'mase' to 'mouse', resulting in the irregular plural.
Word Origin & Etymology
Derived from 'tufted' (bearing a crest) and 'titmouse'. 'Titmouse' comes from Middle English 'titmase' (combining 'tit', meaning small, and 'mase', an Old English name for several small birds). By the 16th century, 'mase' was misunderstood as 'mouse'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.