What does budgerigar mean?
The budgerigar is a small, slender parrot native to the drier grasslands of Australia, where wild birds travel in flocks and show predominantly green-and-yellow plumage. In captivity, more than a century of selective breeding has produced an enormous range of colour varieties, including blues, whites, greys, and pieds, making it one of the most popular cage birds in the world. Budgerigars are social, active, and relatively easy to care for, and they are well known for their remarkable capacity to mimic human speech, sometimes learning dozens of words. The name is a shortened form of an older spelling, "budgerygah", adopted from an Australian Aboriginal language, which is why the word has no related forms in Latin or Greek roots. Informally, especially in Britain, the bird is affectionately called a budgie, a term so familiar that it often stands alone without any need for explanation.
nounA small, long-tailed, seed-eating Australian parrot with a yellowish-green plumage in the wild, widely bred in captivity in many colour varieties and kept as a popular cage bird.
- A small Australian parrot (Melopsittacus undulatus) kept worldwide as a popular caged pet, known for its ability to mimic human speech.
"The children spent hours teaching their budgerigar to whistle a tune."
"A pair of budgerigars chirped cheerfully by the window all morning."
"She trained her blue budgerigar to perch on her finger and say a few words."
Regular English plural formed by adding -s; used when referring to multiple birds or the species generally.
"Wild budgerigars gather in enormous flocks across inland Australia after good rains."
The budgerigar's name comes from an Australian Aboriginal language, and it may originally have meant something like 'good to eat'.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of budgerigar
The word "budgerigar" was borrowed into English in the nineteenth century from an Australian Aboriginal language of New South Wales, most commonly identified as Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi). It entered English through early spellings such as "budgerygah", reflecting European attempts to render the Aboriginal pronunciation. Its exact meaning in the source language is uncertain, though it is sometimes said to mean "good food" or "good to eat". The affectionate clipping "budgie" arose later in British English and is now the everyday term.
Related word forms
How budgerigar is actually used
In everyday British English the clipped informal form "budgie" is far more common than the full word; in North American pet trade contexts the bird is often called a "budgie" or "parakeet".
Easily confused with budgerigar
"Parakeet" is a broad term for many species of small long-tailed parrots, whereas "budgerigar" refers to one specific species native to Australia.