Animals, plants & weather

toucan

The big-billed bird of Brazil was tukana in Tupi; French travellers wrote toucan in the 1550s and English followed within a decade, while Dutch navigators put the bird among the stars as the constellation Tucana.

Weakest linkCertain

The road to English

From Old Tupi to Portuguese

From Portuguese to Italian

From Old Tupi to New Latin

From Old Tupi to Nheengatu

From French to Russian

1550Old Tupi

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

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