popinjay

[ pop-in-jey ]

noun

1. a person given to vain, pretentious displays and empty chatter; coxcomb; fop.
2. British Dialect. a woodpecker, especially the green woodpecker.
3. Archaic. the figure of a parrot usually fixed on a pole and used as a target in archery and gun shooting.
4. Archaic. a parrot.

popinjay

/ ˈpɒpɪnˌdʒeɪ /

noun

1. a conceited, foppish, or excessively talkative person
2. an archaic word for parrot
3. the figure of a parrot used as a target

Word History and Origins

Origin of popinjay¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English papejay, popingay, papinjai(e), from Middle French papegai, papingay “parrot,” ultimately from Arabic bab(ba)ghā', probably imitative of the bird's cry

Word History and Origins

Origin of popinjay¹

C13 papeniai, from Old French papegay a parrot, from Spanish papagayo, from Arabic babaghā

Example Sentences

As are the old-fashioned words — like “martinet,” “popinjay” and “annealed” — that Galloway sprinkles through the text, the way Leigh strewed the beloved posies from her various country estates.

From New York Times

Place your bets now on which member of Congress he’ll call a “low-rent popinjay, no offense to the English” after a question about interest rates.

From Slate

Here is the ultimate insult to this obese, superannuated popinjay: the book renders him invisible, as if flushing him away into oblivion.

From The Guardian

The 1980s brought with them a new social type, a sub-Nietzschean popinjay we’ll call Finance Guy.

From Los Angeles Times

It was this transition that helped turn “Trump into Trump” — from a comparatively minor fish in the Manhattan real estate pond into the world’s greatest popinjay.

From New York Times