Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A traditional Pennsylvania Dutch folk art motif of a bird or birds symbolizing good luck and happiness.
Wiktionary
- n. A stylized goldfinch in Pennsylvania Dutch folk art, representing happiness and good fortune.
Etymologies
- From German, goldfinch, from Middle High German distelvinke, from Old High German distilvinko : distil, thistle, + vinko, finch. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Feed mii scraple en cawl mii a distelfink, butt WT-teknoe!”
u see teh arrow on mai hed? - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“Another such word is geoduck, which is pronounced "gooey duck"; a less violently dissonant, but still unpredictable, spelling is distelfink, which according to Merriam-Webster's is pronounced DISH-tlfink it's from Pennsylvania Dutch dischdelfink 'goldfinch', although the AHD gives the normalized DIST-lfink.”
“They have groovy geometric folk symbols said to have magical properties: a heart for love, the distelfink a cute bird for good luck and happiness.”
“If you stole someone's five-foot good luck distelfink, the Pennsylvania Dutch would like to speak ...”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘distelfink’.
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•Open List: Flights of Fancy
Fictitious birds. Thanks to PossibleUnderscore for the idea! (Please add a brief description under "Comments" if the creature isn't well-known.)
phoenix, quetzalcoatl, thunderbird, roc, snipe, Roly-Poly Bird, ba, griffin, sphinx, Foghorn Leghorn, Heckle and Jeckle, firebird and 166 more...
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250 Spelling Words
A selected sampling of words for intermediate and advanced spellers.
orecchiette, rhabdomancy, guayabera, orthoepy, opisthenar, maguey, proem, ciabatta, cioppino, banns, concinnity, asthenia and 237 more...
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Birds
Words that describe birds
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2024 more...
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2012 National Bee Final Round
The words from the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee championship round.
psammon, dedans, sahel, harengiform, canities, ridotto, maieutic, turnverein, otosteon, ajimez, porwigle, melopoeia and 18 more...
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ell
A macédoine of interesting words that feature the letter ell.
cellotaph, glass noodle, Llullaillaco, it'll, elevator surfer, diesel laundering, lushburg, illicitly, cataphile, splo, precellency, angelicalness and 43 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for distelfink.
Comments
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