'waxwing' originates from English, formed from the nouns 'wax' and 'wing,' where 'wax' referred to the wax-like appearance of the red tips on the bird’s secondary wing feathers.

'waxwing' developed in English as a descriptive compound ('wax' + 'wing') in the modern period and became the standard common name for these birds.

Initially, it meant 'a bird with wax-like tips on its wings,' and this meaning has remained essentially unchanged in modern usage.