بَبْغَآءُ
Root: ببغ
Full Definition
بَبْغَآءُ
and بَبَّغَآءُ [in modern vulgar Arabic بَبَغَان, The parrot;] a certain well-known bird; a certain green bird, well known; the bird called in Persian
طُوطِي, beautiful in colour and form, mostly green, but in some instances red, and yellow, and white; having a thick bill and tongue: it hears the speech of men and repeats it, without knowing its meaning; and utters letters rightly: when they desire to teach it, they put a mirror in its cage, so that it sees therein its own form, and they speak to it from behind the mirror, and when it hears, it repeats, desiring to do as its like; and thus it learns quickly: one of the wonders relating to it is [said to be this], that it never drinks water; for if it drank, it would die: the affix renders fem. the word, but not the thing named thereby, like the ة in حَمَامَةٌ and نَعَامَةٌ; for the word applies to the male and the female, so that one says, بَبْغَآءُ ذَكَرٌ [a male parrot] and بَبْغَآءُ أُنْثَى [a female parrot]: and the pl. is بَبْغَاوَاتٌ [or بَبَّغَاوَاتٌ], like as صَحْرَاوَتٌ is pl. of صَحْرَآءُ.
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Hans Wehr
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