α. 1800s– roodebec, 1900s– roodebek.
β. 1800s rooibeck, 1800s– roibek, 1900s– rooibek.
rooibekn.
/ˈrɔɪbɛk/, U.S. /ˈrɔɪˌbɛk/, South African English /ˈrɔɪbek/ South African. Now rare.
= rooibekkie n.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > seed eaters > family Ploceidae > [noun] > subfamily Viduinae (whydah) > types of
painted finch1731
rooibek1867
king rooibekkie1868
shaft-tailed whydah1881
king of six1913
1867 E. L. Layard Birds S. Afr. 192 It is no unusual thing to see two canaries, or one canary, the ‘king of the roodebecs’, and three or four ‘roodebecs’, all in the vessel at once, splashing, ducking, and jostling one another.
1876 J. Robinson George Linton xv. 159 Hosts of tiny rooibeks, grey canaries, blue-winged blackbirds, flit about everywhere.
1880 Trans. S. Afr. Philos. Soc. 1 49 Inhabiting the same locality..is the King Roodebec (Vidua principalis), a little black and white bird not much larger than a common Roodebec.
1899 R. B. Woodward & J. D. S. Woodward Natal Birds 66 This bird [sc. the pin-tailed widow bird] derives its name from its pretty wax-like red bill, which resembles that of the estrilda, and in common with them it is called roibek.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 120/1 The little rooibek of South Africa (Estrilda astrild) has been..long and well established in St Helena.
1929 C. D. Priest Guide Birds S. Rhodesia 169 Local names—Roodebec or Red-bill for the Common Waxbill.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1867