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PASSERINE
Definition of PASSERINE
adjective
Of or relating to the Passeriformes order of perching birds, which are generally anisodactyl, having three toes pointing forward and one back, which facilitates perching.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Adjective sense 1 is borrowed from New Latin Passer (“bird genus”) (from Latin passer (“sparrow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly (in the sense of spreading out wings)”)) + English -ine (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Adjective sense 2 is borrowed from New Latin passerinus (“bird species”) + English -ine. Passerinus is derived from Latin passerīnus (“of or fit for sparrows”), from passer (“sparrow”) (see above) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). The noun is borrowed from New Latin Passerinae (“former order of birds”), a calque of French passereaux, the plural of passereau (“sparrow; passerine (bird of the order Passeriformes)”), from Latin passer (“sparrow”) (see above) + -eau (suffix forming diminutive masculine nouns, specifically the names of young animals).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
3 recorded generations before English.
Deepest traced root
5th
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
5.3%
of traced words share this origin (4,514)
branch · 12.8% of traced words
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
PASSERINE in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 172, 8 November 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 1 day.
First ever to find it
on Day 172, 8 November 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
PASSERINE starts with P and ends with E. Sorted, its letters read AEEINPRSS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. S and E appear more than once, including a double letter.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Words that start PASSER
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found PASSERINE?
OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 172 - and most players walked straight past it.
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