خرشنة

Arabic

خَرْشَنَة

Etymology

From the root خ ر ش (ḵ-r-š) dealing with "scratching", "scrapping", "peeling", "to snatch or claw at." Uncertain reference to perhaps its slender beak, the distinguishing characteristic from the wider-billed gulls; from a common practice of forming a nest by scratching a groove in sand; a forked-shaped tail; or simply from its swooping down and snatching small fish.

Perhaps semantically related to שחף (shákhaf, seagull; unidentified non-kosher aquatic bird), also with an etymology meaning to peel, generally suggested to reference an "emaciated or slender figure".

Noun

خَرْشَنَة (ḵaršana) f (plural خَرْشَنَات (ḵaršanāt))

  1. tern, Sterna
  2. (when in plural also) Charadriiformes

Declension

References

  • Wehr, Hans; Kropfitsch, Lorenz (1985), خرشنة”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart (in German), 5th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, published 2011, →ISBN, page 329
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