budgerigar: [19] When the first English settlers arrived at Port Jackson (now Sydney Harbour) in the late 18th century, they heard the local Aborigines referring to a small green parrot-like bird as budgerigar. In the local language, this meant literally ‘good’ (budgeri) ‘cockatoo’ (gar). The English language had acquired a new word, but to begin with it was not too sure how to spell it; the first recorded attempt, in Leichhardt’s Overland Expedition 1847, was betshiregah. The abbreviated budgie is 1930s.
budgerigar (n.)
1847, from Native Australian, said to mean "good cockatoo," from budgeri "good" + gar "cockatoo."
