western tanager

[ wes-tern tan-uh-jer ]

noun

1. an American songbird, Piranga ludoviciana, the male of which has a reddish orange head and a yellow neck: recently classified as a member of the cardinal family rather than the tanager family, the western tanager breeds in the western United States, from southern Alaska to the Mexican border, and migrates as far south as Costa Rica.

Word History and Origins

Origin of western tanager¹

An Americanism first recorded in 1865–70