crombec, noun
- Forms:
- Also krombek, and (formerly) kromebec.
- Origin:
- Afrikaans, DutchShow more Englished form of Afrikaans krombek, from Dutch krom crooked + bek beak. The earliest occurrence of the name is in F. le Vaillant’s Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux d’Espagne, 1802.
The bird Sylvietta refuscens of the Sylviidae, with a long, curved beak and short tail; stumptail.
- Note:
- In G.L. Maclean’s Roberts’ Birds of Sn Afr. (1993), the name ‘longbilled crombec’ is used for this species. Although S. refuscens is the only crombec which occurs in South Africa, the name ‘crombec’ is given in general English to all birds of this genus.
c1808 C. von Linné System of Nat. Hist. VIII. 466The curved-bill Fig-eater, This species is plentiful about the Elephant-river, where it is called kromebec, which in Dutch signifies a curved bill.
1993 G.L. Maclean Roberts’ Birds of Sn Afr. 563Longbilled Crombec...Bill long (much longer than that of Redfaced Crombec).

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