fowl

American  

[faul] / faʊl /

noun

• fowls,
  plural
• fowl
  plural

1. 

   the domestic or barnyard hen or rooster; chicken.

2. any of several other, usually gallinaceous, birds that are barnyard, domesticated, or wild, as the duck, turkey, or pheasant.

3. (in market and household use) a full-grown domestic fowl for food purposes, as distinguished from a chicken or young fowl.

4. the flesh or meat of a domestic fowl.

5. any bird (used chiefly in combination).

   waterfowl; wildfowl.

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verb (used without object)

1. to hunt or take wildfowl.

fowl British  

/ faʊl /

noun

1. See domestic fowl

2. any other bird, esp any gallinaceous bird, that is used as food or hunted as game See also waterfowl wildfowl

3. the flesh or meat of fowl, esp of chicken

4. an archaic word for any bird

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verb

1. (intr) to hunt or snare wildfowl

fowl Idioms  

1. see neither fish nor fowl.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fowl
  plural
• fowls
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of fowl

First recorded before 900; Middle English foul, fuhel, Old English fugol, fugel; cognate with Old Saxon fugal, Gothic fugls, Old High German fogal ( German Vogel ), from Germanic fuglaz, a possible dissimilation of unattested fluglaz, from the same root as fly ² ( def. )

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Explanation

The noun fowl usually means domesticated birds kept for eating or producing eggs. If your friend brings you eggs from the chickens she keeps in her back yard, you can say that she has pet fowl. Fowl comes from the Old English fugel, "bird," meant simply that — "bird." Today, fowl usually refers specifically to chickens or other kinds of domesticated birds that lay eggs or are raised to be eaten. Occasionally, fowl is used interchangeably with poultry, to mean the flesh of that same kind of bird when it's eaten; you could describe your family as being fond of pork, beef, and fowl.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fowl fowls

To investigate, the researchers attached small weights to one leg of young guinea fowl, birds closely related to chickens that walk on two legs like humans.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

The eye-catching fowl was well known in the neighborhood where it lived for years, and some knew it as Sugar.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

Gussalli Beretta describes himself as a keen Americanophile with a particular fondness for hunting U.S. fowl.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026

Lynne, who was watching Manchester City take on Brentford with her friend Ian Bullock, said she initially thought it was human vandals behind the bang and did not expect fowl play.

From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2025

The guinea fowl heard these taunts from a tree in which he was sitting, and he cackled with rage.

From "The Girl Who Married a Lion: and Other Tales from Africa" by Alexander Mccall Smith

Various dressings are also layered inside the fowls.

From Fox News ● Nov. 20, 2018

Today, starlings are viewed as the foulest of the fowls, but it wasn’t always this way.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2016

Expect 1980s carton environments and side-scrolling shooting and racing mechanics to replace the previous sling-shot type battles between the pigs and fowls, except now its Autobirds versus Deceptihogs.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 29, 2014

Another time, the group released a flock of turkeys dressed up like Milošević’s wife in a busy shopping district, leading the authorities to chase the fowls all over the neighborhood.

From Slate ● Mar. 31, 2014

Ser Boros was the worst of the Kingsguard, an ugly man with a foul temper, all scowls and fowls.

From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin

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Related Words

• chicken
• goose
• hen
• pheasant

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