Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several small finches, such as Spinus spinus, a greenish-yellow finch of Eurasia and northern Africa, or the pine siskin of North America.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A small fringilline bird, Chrysomitris (or Spinus) spinus, related to the goldfinch, inhabiting the temperate parts of the Palearctic region; the aberdevine or blackheaded thistlefinch; the tarin.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A small green and yellow European finch (Spinus spinus, or Carduelis spinus); -- called also aberdevine.
  • noun The American pinefinch (S. pinus); -- called also pine siskin. See pinefinch.
  • noun a delicate shade of yellowish green, as in the mineral torbernite.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A small green and yellow European finch, Carduelis Spinus spinus or Carduelis spinus.
  • noun Any of various similar birds in the genera Carduelis and Serinus.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun small yellow-and-black Eurasian finch with a sharp beak

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Obsolete Dutch sīsken, from Middle Dutch, diminutive of sīs, from Middle Low German csītze, probably from Czech číž, of imitative origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From dialectal German Sisschen, Zeischen, diminutive form of Middle High German zisec, apparently ultimately from Proto-Slavic (compare e.g. Polish czyżik).

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word siskin.

Examples

  • Response: This is adult male black-headed siskin, Serinus nigriceps.

    Mystery bird: Abyssinian siskin, Serinus nigriceps 2011

  • Adult male Ethiopian black-headed siskin, Serinus nigriceps, also known as the Ethiopian siskin or (African/Abyssinian) black-headed siskin, or the black-headed serin, photographed at Bale Mountains, Ethiopia (Africa).

    Mystery bird: Abyssinian siskin, Serinus nigriceps 2011

  • Adult male Ethiopian black-headed siskin, Serinus nigriceps, also known as the Ethiopian siskin or (African/Abyssinian) black-headed siskin, or the black-headed serin, photographed at Bale Mountains, Ethiopia (Africa).

    Mystery bird: Abyssinian siskin, Serinus nigriceps 2011

  • Response: This is adult male black-headed siskin, Serinus nigriceps.

    Mystery bird: Abyssinian siskin, Serinus nigriceps 2011

  • Some bird was active in the bush behind me, a siskin, I supposed, or possibly a thrush.

    Sick Cycle Carousel 2010

  • Another round of the finch-siskin-junco with added! chickadees turmoil in our side yard.

    Warmer jhetley 2009

  • Examples are buff-breasted tody-tyrant (Hemitriccus mirandae), white-winged cotinga (Xipholena atropurpurea), seven-colored tanager (Tangara fastuosa), and yellow-faced siskin (Carduelis yarrellii).

    Pernambuco interior forests 2008

  • Nevertheless, the area is considered an Endemic Bird Area by BirdLife International, and is home to a number of true fynbos species such as the Cape sugarbird (Promerops cafer), the orange-breasted sunbird (Nectarinia violacea), the Protea canary (Serinus leucopterus) and the Cape siskin (Serinus totta).

    Biological diversity in the Cape Floristic Region 2008

  • Restricted-range birds in this ecoregion include the Santa Barbara screech-owl (Otus barbarus), belted flycatcher (Xenotriccus callizonus), pink-heade warbler (Ergaticus versicolor), and black-capped siskin (Carduelis atriceps) classified as near threatened.

    Central American pine-oak forests 2007

  • With respect to fauna, the most notable avian endemisms are those relating to the red siskin (Carduelis cucullata), a small bird with bright red and black plumage that is considered one of the most threatened species in Venezuela.

    Paraguana xeric scrub 2007

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Citation on ugsome.

    July 13, 2008

  • "Midspring brings with it singing birds, six kinds (finch, siskin, ibis, tit, pipit, swift), whistling shrill chirps, trilling chirr chirr in high pitch."

    Eunoia by Christian Bök (upgraded edition), p 52

    May 21, 2010