Neocichla
nee-oh-SIK-luh
Genus
New thrush (a bird resembling or related to the thrush)
Literally: New thrush
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| neo- | New, recent | Greek (neo) | Combining form; here clearly the 'new' sense, not 'nest/young bird' |
| -cichla | A thrush | Greek (cichl, =a) | Terminal form -a, feminine; gives the genus its grammatical gender (feminine) |
A compound of two Greek elements: the prefix neo- ('new') attached directly to cichla ('thrush'). The word is treated as a feminine Latin noun in apposition (genus name). No connecting vowel is used because neo- ends in a vowel and cichla begins with a consonant, making the junction clean. The name signals that this is a 'new' or distinct genus of thrush-like bird.
Pronunciation
- nee-oh-SIK-luh Antepenult stress: penult syllable '-kla' is short (single consonant before final -a), so stress falls on the antepenult 'cich' (SIK). The -a ending is short 'uh'.
Other readings
neo- could theoretically carry the sense 'young bird / nestling' (Greek neo-, neoss-), giving 'young/nestling thrush', but the standard ornithological convention strongly favours the 'new' reading for genus-level neo- compounds.
The genus Neocichla was established for the Babbling Starling of central Africa — 'cichla' here evokes a thrush-like quality rather than strict membership in Turdidae. The dictionary entry for neo lists three distinct senses (new/recent; a temple; swim/go; a bird's nest/young bird); the 'new' sense is overwhelmingly the standard usage in zoological nomenclature. OCR note: the dictionary entry 'ne, -o' shows a stray comma in 'New; swim;, go' — this is a minor OCR artefact and does not affect the reading.