Meaning

noun common black-and-grey Eurasian bird noted for thievery

originCompound of jack + daw. The first element, also present in Low German (North Saxon) Jöker (“jackdaw”), may refer either to its characteristic call, often represented as tchak-tchak, maybe influenced by association with the name Jack. The second element means “jackdaw” in itself, from Old English *dāwe, from Proto-West Germanic *dāhwā. Cognate with Old Prussian doacke (“starling”), Latin faccilāre…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0