guano
Americannoun
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guanos
plural
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a natural manure composed chiefly of the excrement of sea birds, found especially on islands near the Peruvian coast.
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any similar substance, as an artificial fertilizer made from fish.
noun
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the dried excrement of fish-eating sea birds, deposited in rocky coastal regions of South America: contains the urates, oxalates, and phosphates of ammonium and calcium; used as a fertilizer
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the accumulated droppings of bats and seals
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any similar but artificial substance used as a fertilizer
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A substance composed chiefly of the dung of sea birds or bats, accumulated along certain coastal areas or in caves and used as fertilizer.
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Any of various similar substances, such as a fertilizer prepared from ground fish parts.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of guano
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Spanish: “fertilizer, dung”; Latin American Spanish huano “dung,” from Quechua wanu “dung for fuel, fertilizer”
Explanation
Guano is bird or bat poop. If you park your car near the harbor, your windshield may end up covered in seagull guano. Ew. You'll most often find the word guano used for the specific bird (or bat) manure that's used as a fertilizer in gardens. In fact, the term is so common that some fertilizers are called guano even when they don't contain actual bird poop. Guano, a Spanish word with Quechua roots, is rich in nitrogen, potassium, and other nutrients that help plants grow.
Vocabulary lists containing guano
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Their collective body heat raises the cave’s temperature to a sweltering 106°F, and the piles of guano beneath them are deep enough to bury the Statue of Liberty to her waist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
"Our evidence suggests guano was central to the Chincha Kingdom's success, with the Chincha's maritime knowledge and access to the Chincha Islands likely reframing their strategic importance in the region."
From Science Daily ● Mar. 7, 2026
The latter elements suggest the hearth was intentionally sealed with a mixture of guano and sand, which can protect plant materials within the hearth from catching fire—conditions needed to create tar.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 22, 2024
Their guano, or dung, can also be used as fertilizer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2024
It was the one where Kehaar used to shelter and the lobby at the mouth was still cluttered with guano.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
It has been estimated that Texas guanos alone consume 6,600 tons of insects each year.
From Time Magazine Archive
Such guanos form a soft phosphatic rock, and are extremely rich in phosphates.
From Manures and the principles of manuring by Charles Morton Aikman
The only way in which adulteration can with certainty be detected, and the value of different guanos be determined, is by analysis, and the importance of this can easily be illustrated.
From Elements of Agricultural Chemistry by Thomas Anderson
Of these phosphatic guanos the following are the chief—those marked in italics being still unexhausted:— 1.
From Manures and the principles of manuring by Charles Morton Aikman
There is no doubt, however, that such guanos are very useful, and if obtained in large quantity, and of uniform composition, would be used to a much larger extent than they at present are.
From Elements of Agricultural Chemistry by Thomas Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
