flamingo [M16th] This tall wading bird may be connected with flamenco [L19th], the style of Spanish Gypsy music and dance. In Spanish flamenco means both ‘flamingo’ and ‘flamenco’, and also ‘like a Gypsy’, ‘strong and healthy-looking’, and ‘Flemish’. How ‘Flemish’ is related to the other meanings is not clear: it may be from the pink cheeks of north Europeans, or because of an apparent reputation that the people of Flanders had in the Middle Ages for flamboyant clothing. The name of the bird was probably influenced by Latin flamma ‘flame’, on account of its bright pink colour.