hirondelle

swallow (bird); alignment mark printed in the margin; policeman on a bicycle or motorcycle

“1976, Michel Fugain et le Big Bazar, "Le printemps". L'hirondelle et la fauvette, c'est la forêt qui me l'a dit / L'hirondelle et la fauvette, ont déjà fait leur nid” — The swallow and the warbler, it's the forest that told me / The swallow and the warbler have already made their nests

Borrowed from Old Occitan irondela, diminutive of irunda, ironda, ultimately from Latin hirundō. Replaced Old French arondelle, diminutive of aronde, from Latin hirundō (compare also harundō).