rara avis

noun
/ˌɹɑːɹə ˈeɪvɪs/UK/ˌɹɑɹə ˈeɪvɪs/US

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin rāra avis (“rare bird”). The synonym rare bird is attested earlier. The term is a quotation from Satire VI (written late 1st century – early 2nd century C.E.) of the Roman poet Juvenal: “Rara avis in terris, nigroque simillima cygno [a bird as rare upon the earth as a black swan]!”. The plural form rarae aves is a learned borrowing from Latin rārae avēs.

  1. learned borrowing from rārae avēs

Definitions

  1. A rare species or type of bird.

  2. A rare or unique, and thus outstanding or unusual, person or thing

    A rare or unique, and thus outstanding or unusual, person or thing; a rare bird.

    • That Parsons girl is quite the rara avis if you ask me.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for rara avis. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA