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popinjay

noun
pop·​in·​jay | \ ˈpä-pən-ˌjā How to pronounce popinjay (audio) \

Definition of popinjay

: a strutting supercilious person
Did You Know? Example Sentences Learn More about popinjay

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Did You Know?

Popinjays and parrots are birds of a feather. "Popinjay," from the Middle French word papegai, is the original name for a parrot in English. (The French word in turn came from the Arabic word for the bird, "babghā." "Parrot," which English speakers adopted later, probably comes from Middle French perroquet.) In the days of Middle English, parrots were rare and exotic, and it was quite a compliment to be called a "popinjay" after such a beautiful bird. But by the 1500s, parrots had become more commonplace, and their gaudy plumage and vulgar mimicry helped "popinjay" develop the pejorative sense we use today.

Examples of popinjay in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

 There was a tiny popinjay of a man with a Windsor knot and a pink tie. — Rebecca Keegan, VanityFair.com, "Trump-Satirizing Playwright Jon Robin Baitz Says He Was Assaulted by a Trump Supporter on Inauguration Day," 21 Jan. 2017

First Known Use of popinjay

1528, in the meaning defined above

History and Etymology for popinjay

Middle English papejay parrot, from Middle French papegai, papejai, from Arabic babghā'

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