guinea fowl

American  

Or guineafowl

noun

1. any of several African, gallinaceous birds of the subfamily Numidinae, especially a common species, Numida meleagris, that has a bony casque on the head and dark gray plumage spotted with white and that is now domesticated and raised for its flesh and eggs.

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guinea fowl British  

noun

1. any gallinaceous bird, esp Numida meleagris, of the family Numididae of Africa and SW Asia, having a dark plumage mottled with white, a naked head and neck, and a heavy rounded body

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Etymology

Origin of guinea fowl

First recorded in 1645–55; see also turkey ( def. )

Example Sentences

We also learn more about guinea fowl than ever imagined, including how the plump species warns the rest of the herd of danger.

From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2024

Hanja Brandl at the University of Konstanz in Germany is studying guinea fowl in Kenya using small implanted heart-rate loggers combined with solar GPS trackers to observe how stress moves from bird to bird.

From Washington Post • Oct. 30, 2022

Botha says Mboma was lucky not to have suffered any damage to her eyesight after the car's windscreen was smashed by a flock of guinea fowl, peppering the athlete with shards of glass.

From BBC • Jan. 7, 2022

A new soup fuses the styles: Sea Island white rice and red peas, cooked in guinea fowl stock and enriched with fresh black truffles.

From New York Times • May 25, 2021

If guinea fowl had been slightly more intelligent, it wouldn’t have worked, but fortunately they were as dull-witted as earthworms.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer