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av·o·cet

(ăvə-sĕt′)

Any of several long-legged shorebirds of the genus Recurvirostra, characterized by a long, slender, upturned beak.

[French avocette, from New Latin avocetta, misspelling of avosetta, from Italian, from Venetian, probably from Vulgar Latin *avis sitta : Latin avis, bird; see awi- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots + Greek sittē, a kind of woodpecker or nuthatch (probably of onomatopoeic origin and imitative of the bird's sound).]

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avocet

pied avocet

Recurvirostra avosetta

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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