toucan

[ too-kan, -kahn, too-kahn ]

noun
  1. any of several usually brightly colored, fruit-eating birds of the family Ramphastidae, of tropical America, having a very large bill.

  2. Toucan, Astronomy. the constellation Tucana.

Origin of toucan

1
First recorded in 1550–60; from French, from Portuguese tucano, from Tupi tucan (imitative of its cry)

Words Nearby toucan

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use toucan in a sentence

  • If the extraordinary form and size of the bill expose the toucan to ridicule, its colours make it amends.

    Wanderings in South America | Charles Waterton
  • Here, also, the forests are adorned with the gay plumage of the red and blue macaws, as also by a toucan with a yellow tail.

    The Western World | W.H.G. Kingston

British Dictionary definitions for toucan

toucan

/ (ˈtuːkən) /


noun
  1. any tropical American arboreal fruit-eating bird of the family Ramphastidae, having a large brightly coloured bill with serrated edges and a bright plumage

Origin of toucan

1
C16: from French, from Portuguese tucano, from Tupi tucana, probably imitative of its cry

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012