fowl

C2+ Topic:Animals

US /faʊl/ UK /faʊl/ See IPA manual

Homophones

foul /faʊl/

Meanings

1

noun
a bird, especially a domesticated one kept for eggs or meat

The farmyard fowl scattered as the dog bounded toward them.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a bird, especially a... bird poultry hen chicken game

Word family

Forms fowlerfowlers

Derived forms fowlerfowling

Related forms wildfowl waterfowl fly

Appears in

Tongue twisters (1)

See all

Five Funny Farmers
Five funny farmers feeding feathered fowls.

Let air pass between the lower lip and upper teeth for /f/. The middle sound of feathered is voiced /ð/, even though its first sound is /f/.

Simplified etymology

Fowl was the general Old English term for an adult bird, while brid, the ancestor of bird, originally meant a chick or nestling. As bird broadened into the general term, fowl became restricted to particular groups, as in wildfowl and waterfowl.

Etymology

From Old English fugol ('bird'), from Proto-Germanic *fuglaz, perhaps dissimilated from *fluglaz, related to fly (Proto-Germanic *fleuganÄ…).

fugol Old English *fuglaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Animals

External links

# fowl

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /faʊl/
**IPA (UK):** /faʊl/

## Meanings
1. a bird, especially a domesticated one kept for eggs or meat

## Examples
- The farmyard fowl scattered as the dog bounded toward them.

## Synonyms
- bird
- poultry
- hen
- chicken
- game

## Derived Forms
- fowler
- fowling

## Related Forms
- wildfowl
- waterfowl
- fly

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: fugol
- Root: *fuglaz

## Etymology
From Old English fugol ('bird'), from Proto-Germanic *fuglaz, perhaps dissimilated from *fluglaz, related to fly (Proto-Germanic *fleuganÄ…).

## AI Etymology
Fowl comes from Old English fugol ('bird'), from Proto-Germanic *fuglaz, perhaps dissimilated from *fluglaz, related to fly (Proto-Germanic *fleuganÄ…). The history is deliberately cautious: the proposed comparison is useful for orientation, but the wording leaves room for uncertainty rather than forcing a false certainty. In present use, it is used as a noun and verb meaning "a bird, especially a domesticated one kept for eggs or meat", so the historical material remains connected with the current sense rather than standing as bare ancestry. The wider English family includes derivatives such as fowler and fowling and related forms such as wildfowl, waterfowl, and fly, showing how the same historical material continues to organize neighboring vocabulary. The named historical forms include Old English fugol and Proto-Germanic *fuglaz, keeping the history tied to concrete forms rather than a loose resemblance. Its semantic neighborhood includes bird, poultry, hen, and chicken, locating the modern specialization without adding a new origin story.

## Topics
- Animals

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