fowl

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English foul, foghel, fowel, fowele, from Old English fugol, from Proto-Germanic *fuglaz, dissimilated variant of *fluglaz (compare Old English flugol ‘fleeing’, Mercian fluglas heofun ‘fowls of the air’), from *fleuganą (“to fly”). Cognate with West Frisian fûgel, Low German Vagel, Dutch vogel, German Vogel, Swedish fågel, Danish and Norwegian fugl. More at fly.

Pronunciation

• enPR: foul, IPA^(key): /faʊl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: foul
• Rhymes: -aʊl
• Rhymes: -aʊəl

Noun

fowl (plural fowl or fowls)

1. (archaic) A bird.
   • 1460-1500, The Towneley Playsː

     I see that it is good; now make we man to our likeness, that shall be keeper of mere & leas(ow), of fowls and fish in flood.

   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xix, in Le Morte Darthur, book XIII:

     And now I take vpon me the aduentures of holy thynges / & now I see and vnderstande that myn old synne hyndereth me and shameth me / so that I had no power to stere nor speke whan the holy blood appiered afore me / So thus he sorowed til hit was day / & herd the fowles synge / thenne somwhat he was comforted

2. A bird of the order Galliformes, including chickens, turkeys, pheasant, partridges and quail.
3. Birds which are hunted or kept for food, including Galliformes and also waterfowl of the order Anseriformes such as ducks, geese and swans.

Derived terms

• fowlish
• fowlkind
• fowllike
• fowl-lore

Translations

bird — see bird

bird of the order Galliformes

• Dutch: stuk pluimvee n
• Finnish: kanalintu (fi)
• French: volaille (fr) f
• German: Stück Federvieh n, Geflügel (de) n
• Greek: πουλερικό (el) n (poulerikó)
• Hungarian: baromfi (hu), szárnyas (hu)
• Italian: pollame m
• Latvian: mājputns m
• Lithuanian: naminis paukštis m

• Neapolitan: pollo m
• Occitan: polalha f, volalha (oc) f
• Polish: drób (pl) m
• Portuguese: galiforme (pt) m
• Russian: домашняя пти́ца f (domašnjaja ptíca)
• Spanish: ave (es) f
• Turkish: kümes hayvanı (tr)
• Volapük: gok (vo)

birds which are hunted or kept for food

• Dutch: gevogelte (nl) n
• Finnish: riistalintu (fi) (hunted); siipikarja (fi) (kept)
• French: volaille (fr) f
• German: Geflügel (de) n
• Greek: πουλερικό (el) n (poulerikó)
• Hungarian: szárnyas (hu), víziszárnyas
• Icelandic: fiðurfé n

• Irish: éanlaith f
• Italian: volatile (it) m
• Polish: ptactwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: ave de criação/corte f
• Russian: пернатая дичь f (pernataja dičʹ)
• Spanish: ave (es) f
• Turkish: kümes hayvanı (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} dofedn, ^{(please verify)} ffowlyn, ^{(please verify)} ffowl

Verb

fowl (third-person singular simple present fowls, present participle fowling, simple past and past participle fowled)

1. To hunt fowl.

   We took our guns and went fowling.

Derived terms

• fowler
• fowling

Etymology 2

Adjective

fowl (comparative fowler, superlative fowlest)

1. (obsolete) foul
   • Paradise Lost, John Milton

     Say first, for Heav'n hides nothing from thy view / Nor the deep Tract of Hell, say first what cause / Mov'd our Grand Parents in that happy State / Favour'd of Heav'n so highly, to fall off / From their Creator, and transgress his Will / For one restraint, Lords of the World besides? / Who first seduc'd them to that fowl revolt?

Anagrams

• Wolf, flow, wolf

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Middle English

Etymology

From Old English fugol, from Proto-Germanic.

Noun

fowl (plural fowles)

1. a bird

And smale fowles maken melodye
That slepen all the night with open ye - Chaucer, General Prologue, Canterbury Tales, ll.9-10