fowl

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English foul, foghel, fowel, fowele, from Old English fugol (“bird”), from Proto-West Germanic *fugl, from Proto-Germanic *fuglaz, dissimilated variant of *fluglaz (compare Old English flugol ‘fleeing’, Mercian fluglas heofun ‘birds 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. Doublet of voël. 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. A bird hunted or kept for food, grouped into landfowl (order Galliformes), also called gamefowl, and waterfowl (order Anseriformes: ducks, geese, swans, etc.), which together form the clade Galloanserae.
2. (archaic) Any bird.
   • 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

     And now I take upon myself the adventures of holy things / And now I see and understand that my old sin hinders me and shames me / so that I had no power to steer nor speak when the holy blood appeared afore me / So thus he sorrowed till it was day / and heard the fowls sing / then somewhat he was comforted

Derived terms

• antifowl
• Cochin fowl
• Dorking fowl
• fowl bluegrass, fowl grass, fowl meadow grass (Poa palustris)
• fowlery
• fowl-house
• fowlhouse
• fowlish
• fowlkind
• fowllike
• fowl-like
• fowl-lore
• fowl paralysis
• fowl pest
• fowlpox
• fowl-run
• fowlyard
• game fowl
• gamefowl
• guinea-fowl
• guinea fowl
• helmeted guinea fowl
• junglefowl, jungle fowl (Gallus spp.)
• landfowl
• make fish of one and fowl of another
• mallee fowl
• moorfowl
• neither fish, flesh, nor fowl
• neither fish nor fowl
• peafowl
• Philippine fowl disease
• rockfowl
• scrubfowl
• seafowl
• Spanish fowl
• spurfowl
• waterfowl
• wildfowl
• wormfowl
• yardfowl

Descendants

• Krio: fɔl
• Sranan Tongo: fowru

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)
• Indonesian: ayam (id)
• Italian: pollame (it) m
• Javanese: pitik (jv)
• Kodava: ಕೋಳಿ (kōḷi)
• Latvian: mājputns m
• Lithuanian: naminis paukštis m
• Neapolitan: pollo m
• Norwegian: fjærfe n
• Occitan: polalha (oc) f, volalha (oc) f
• Old Javanese: pitik
• Ottoman Turkish: طاوق (tavuk), مرغ (mürg)
• Persian: ماکیان (fa) (mâkiyân)
• Polish: drób (pl) m
• Portuguese: galiforme (pt) m
• Russian: дома́шняя пти́ца f (domášnjaja ptíca)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: pjerina f

• 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
• Ottoman Turkish: طاوق (tavuk), مرغ (mürg)
• Polish: ptactwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: ave de criação/corte f
• Russian: перна́тая дичь f (pernátaja dičʹ) (hunted)
• Slovak: hydina (sk) f pl (kept), hyd m pl (kept)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: pjerina f

• Spanish: ave (es) f
• Turkish: kümes hayvanı (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. 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)

2. To hunt fowl.

   We took our guns and went fowling.

Derived terms

• fowler
• fowling

Translations

to hunt fowl

• Middle English: foulen
• Polish: polować na drób impf
• Welsh: adara

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?

References

• “fowl”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “fowl”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Wolf, flow, wolf

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

fowl

1. alternative form of foul (“bird”)

Etymology 2

Adjective

fowl

1. (Late Middle English) alternative form of foul (“foul”)