fecske

An onomatopoeia with an uncertain origin. Probably from the same stem as the verb fecseg (“to babble, chatter”). It's also possible that it's from Proto-Finno-Ugric *päčkɜ (“swallow”). Cognates include Finnish pääsky and Estonian pääsuke.^[1][2]

• IPA^(key): [ˈfɛt͡ʃkɛ]
• Hyphenation: fecs‧ke
• Rhymes: -kɛ

fecske (plural fecskék)

1. swallow (small, migratory bird of the Hirundinidae family with long wings and a forked tail)
   • 1907, Károly Pekár, “Az Alföld, a magyarság lakóhelye”, in A magyar nemzeti szépről‎^[1]:

     Nagyon kedvelt madara népünknek a villás farkú, villámröptű, vígan csicsergő fecske.

     The swallow, with its forked tail, lightning-fast flight, and gay chirping, is a bird much beloved by our people.

2. (colloquial) swim briefs, Speedo (tight fitting, triangle-shaped male swimsuit)
   • 2008, Tibor Papp, “Lapozzunk vissza”, in Avantgárd szemmel az irodalmi világról‎^[2]:

     Nyár volt, többnyire fürdőruhában, egy szál fecskében ültünk a szobában.

     It was summer, most of the time we were sitting in the room in bathing suits, in nothing but swim briefs.

• fecske in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.