Link Centre Dictionary

popinjay

po·pin·jay

UK/ˈpɒpɪnd͡ʒeɪ/ US/ˈpɑpənˌd͡ʒeɪ/ uncommon dated obsolete uk

noun

1.

a vain and talkative person (chatters like a parrot)

2.

Origin

From Middle English popinjay, popyngeay, popingay, popejay, from Anglo-Norman papegai, papejoie et al., (northern) Old French papejai (“parrot”), probably from Old Occitan papagay (compare Occitan papagai, Catalan papagai), ultimately from Arabic بَبْغَاء (babḡāʔ, “parrot”), of imitative origin.

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Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.