Kilo Lingo

Line drawing of korvo
Coloured illustration of korvo
#2209 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

raven; crow

Word origin

From Latin corvus, raven, which is itself an imitation of the bird's call. The same imitative root gives Greek korax and, at a distance, English croak and crow.

Origin
Latin
Root
corvus
English cognates
corvid, croak

Examples

.

A black raven sat on the dry branch.

.

The crows cried above the field.

.

In the fable the raven is a wise bird.

is the whole genus Corvus - the big black birds - and, used on its own, usually the largest of them, the raven. If you need to be precise, the raven alone is korako, the hooded crow is korniko, the rook is frugilego and the jackdaw is monedo. Ordinary speech does not bother: a big black bird making a noise in a field is a .

The bird earns its keep in literature, which is where a reader is most likely to meet it. Aesop's fox flatters a out of its cheese, and Poe's poem is in Esperanto, croaking - never again - at the end of every verse.

Regular derivations do what you expect: o a small one, o a chick, korva corvine. Do not confuse the root with kurbo, a curve, or , a body - three letters apart is close quarters in a language this regular.

Where this fits

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Esperanto · Free printables

korvo: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "korvo" (raven; crow): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 45.