Fowl

Pronunciation

• enPR: foul, IPA: /faÊŠl/
• Homophones: foul
• Rhymes: -aÊŠl
• Rhymes: -aÊŠÉ™l

Origin

From Middle English foul, foghel, from Old English fugol, from Proto-Germanic *fuglaz, dissimilated variant of *fluglaz (compare Old English flugol ‘fleeing’, Mercian fluglas heofun ‘fowls of the air’),

C.T. Onions, ed., Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, s.v. "fowl" (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1996), 374.

from *fleuganą ‘to fly’. Compare West Frisian fûgel, Low German Vagel, Dutch vogel, German Vogel, Danish fugl. More at fly.

Noun

1. (archaic) A bird.
• 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XIII:So thus he sorowed tyll hit was day, and harde the fowlys synge; than 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.

Full definition of fowl

Verb

1. To hunt fowl.

Anagrams

• flow
• wolf