capon

[key-pon, -puh n]

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noun

a cockerel castrated to improve the flesh for use as food.

Origin of capon

before 1000; Middle English; Old English capun < Latin capōn- (stem of capō) castrated cock; akin to Greek kóptein to cut, OCS skopiti to castrate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for capon

chicken, goose, pheasant, hen, rodent, hare, bunny, poultry, turkey, game, duck, chick, cock, bird, capon, rooster, buck, cony, doe, cuniculus

Examples from the Web for capon

Historical Examples of capon

Its plumage is a whitish grey; and it is about the size of a capon.
The History of Louisiana
Le Page Du Pratz
How the capon was “invented” is told in a note on the subject.
Cooking and Dining in Imperial Rome
Apicius
Escanes wants a cook who can fry a capon in a special way they wot of in Gaul.
"Unto Caesar"
Baroness Emmuska Orczy
He talked of peppering his people as I would talk of peppering a capon.
Imaginary Conversations and Poems
Walter Savage Landor
Mr Capon and Mr Contract, at their own request, went as passengers.
The King's Own
Captain Frederick Marryat

British Dictionary definitions for capon

capon

noun

a castrated cock fowl fattened for eating

Word Origin for capon

Old English capun, from Latin cāpō capon; related to Greek koptein to cut off

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for capon

"a castrated cock," late Old English capun, from Latin caponem (nominative capo) "castrated cock" (also source of French chapon, Spanish capon, Italian cappone), perhaps literally "to strike off," from PIE root *(s)kep- "to cut" (see hatchet (n.)). Probably reinforced in Middle English by cognate Old North French capon.