SPARROW

noun Etymology: Middle English sparow, from Old English spearwa; akin to Old High German sparo ~ Date: before 12th century any of a genus ( Passer of the family Passeridae) of small chiefly brownish or grayish Old World oscine songbirds that include some which have been widely introduced, any of numerous finches (family Emberizidae) that are New World birds (as the song ~ or tree ~) resembling the Old World ~s, ~like adjective