Ammer

Pronunciation

• RP enPR: ăʹmÉ™r, IPA: /ˈæmÉ™/

Origin

From the second element of yellow-ammer, favoured over hammer owing to the spelling of its German cognate and synonym Ammer ("bunting"). The -(h)ammer element may represent the Old English amore (given in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts as a gloss for the unidentified Latin word scorellus) or -hama (“natural integument”; whence the obsolete hame, of the same meaning); the plausibility of and the lack of conclusive evidence for either interpretation renders the prescriptive favouring of yellow-ammer over yellow-hammer unwarranted.

Full definition of ammer

Noun

1. The yellowhammer; ; Emberiza citrinella.