zebra finch

noun

: a small Australian waxbill (Taeniopygia guttata synonym Poephila guttata) that is chiefly gray above and white below with a red or orange bill, a black-and-white barred tail, and in the male a black-barred throat and that is often kept as a cage bird

Examples of zebra finch in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Prehistoric Bird Brain May Be a Rosetta Stone for Avian Evolution Practice Makes Dopamine To study learning for its own sake, young male zebra finches that had memorized their male parent’s courtship song were kept in individual soundproof rooms. —Jenny Lehmann, Discover Magazine, 27 Mar. 2025

The findings in budgies contrast sharply with what scientists have observed in zebra finches, a species of songbird that, unlike budgerigars, does not engage in vocal mimicry. —Ella Jeffries, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Mar. 2025

The other big open question is what drove the budgerigar and its relatives to develop a system so unlike that of the zebra finch. —Ars Technica, 19 Mar. 2025

In the zebra finches, vocalizations seem to be coded by complex, uninterpretable arrays of neuron activity. —Lauren Leffer, Popular Science, 19 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1868, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for zebra finch

• bullfinch
• goldfinch
• cinch
• flinch
• inch
• lynch
• pinch
• synch
• winch