a bird or simulacrum of a bird that is used as a deterrent · an instrument whose sound imitates the song of birds, used in hunting to attract them; complaint · anything that serves to arouse attention or interest
From Old Italian serino (“a kind of small yellow bird”), from New Latin Serinus, the genus name (introduced in 1816 by Carl Ludwig Koch), from Latin serinus (“canary-like bird, yellow finch”). This Latin term is considered to be derived from Latin Latin citrinus (“lemon-colored, citron-like”) by a common Romance sound shift of initial /k/ to /s/ before front vowels, reflecting the bird's yellow…