bokmakierie

noun

bok·​ma·​kier·​ie

ˌbäkməˈkirē

plural -s

: a short-winged shrike (Telophorus zeylonus) of southern Africa

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Afrikaans, of imitative origin

Note: The species is known for male-female duetting; by tradition, bok is the call of the male bird, and makierie the immediate response of the female. The word is apparently recorded first in English, as beckbecary (1831); closer to Afrikaans is bokmakary, recorded by the English bird artist Christopher Webb Smith in the later 1830's. See Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles (Oxford, 1996), Etimologiewoordeboek van Afrikaans (electronic edition, Stellenbosch, 2003).

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