Chlorocichla
kloh-roh-SIK-luh
Genus
the green-plumaged thrush; aptly describing the olive-green coloration of the African greenbuls placed in this genus
Literally: green thrush
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| chloro- | green | Greek (chlor, -o) | combining form; -o- connecting vowel retained before consonant |
| -cichla | a thrush | Greek (cichl, =a) | terminal standalone form =a; feminine noun; head of the compound |
A pure Greek compound noun formed by joining the combining form chloro- (green) to the head noun cichla (thrush). The whole word functions as a Latin feminine noun in apposition — a single compound used as a genus name with no species epithet present. The feminine gender follows from cichla (=a ending).
Pronunciation
- kloh-roh-SIK-luh Penult stressed: penult vowel i is short but followed by two consonants (ch = k, then l), satisfying Rule 5 (short penult vowel + two consonants).
Other readings
No plausible alternative segmentation; chloro- + cichla is the only etymologically sound split. The spurious matches lor- (Latin, a thong) and oro- (Greek/Latin, mountain/mouth) span the wrong morpheme boundaries and are rejected.
ch is always hard k in scientific Latin pronunciation. Final -a is pronounced as a short unstressed 'uh', not 'ay'. The dictionary entry for cichl, =a glosses it as 'a thrush'; in modern ornithology the Chlorocichla greenbuls are bulbuls (Pycnonotidae), but 19th-century namers used cichla loosely for thrush-like passerines.