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pie

magpie

noun PEE Rare
Animals & Nature Birds

Usage Note

Pie is feminine and refers to the common magpie (Pica pica), a black-and-white bird known for its chatter. The French idiom bavard comme une pie ('as talkative as a magpie') describes a chatterbox. Pie also gives the compound adjective pie (used of animals with black-and-white patches, as in cheval pie, a piebald horse).

Examples

"Une pie bavarde perchait sur le toit."

Natural Translation

A chattering magpie was perched on the roof.

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