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turkey

A1 Topic:Food & Drink
US /ˈtɝki/ UK /ˈtɜːki/
Freq #3129

Meanings

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Thesaurus

Synonyms
3 noun · something that fails... flopbombdud
Word family
Forms turkeys
Derived forms brush-turkeychurkeyturduckenturkenturkey-chickturkey-cockturkey-henturkey-liketurkey-shootturkey-trotturkeyling
Related forms gobble

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Turkey originally meant a guinea fowl, a bird from the Guinea coast of West Africa. When guinea fowl came into use as its name, turkey was transferred in the 16th century to the larger North American bird, despite that bird's unrelated geographical origin.

Etymology

From Middle English Turkye, from Anglo-Norman Turkye, Medieval Latin Turcia, from Turcus (“Turk”), from Byzantine Greek Τοῦρκος (Toûrkos), from Classical Persian تُرْک (turk), from Middle Persian [script needed] (twlk' /⁠turk⁠/), from Old Turkic 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰜 (t²ür²k̥).

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