poultry
Americannoun
-
poultries
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of poultry
1350–1400; Middle English pulletrie < Middle French pouleterie. See pullet, -ery
Explanation
Domesticated birds raised for meat or eggs are poultry. If you're going to keep poultry in your back yard, you'll need to build a chicken coop. When you talk about eating chicken or turkey, you can refer to that type of meat as poultry: "I don't eat red meat — just a little fish and poultry." Other birds that fall into the category of poultry are domesticated guinea hens, ducks, and geese. If they're wild, on the other hand, they're called game. Before poultry came to mean "domestic fowl" in the 14th century, it meant "place where fowl is sold."
Vocabulary lists containing poultry
This Week in Words: Current Events Vocabulary for October 7–October 13, 2023
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for February 2–February 8, 2025
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"The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen
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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.
The poultry industry has for years prioritized breeding bigger chickens, aiming to increase the amount of products harvested from each bird.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Most cases used to stem from eating undercooked poultry or eggs, but studies have shown that salmonella outbreaks linked to fresh produce have increased in recent years.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
As avian flu spread like wildfire through the industry, poultry farmers were forced to cull 26 million birds, leading prices to skyrocket.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
While energy prices fell last month, food price inflation increased further, with the cost of meat, poultry, fish and eggs going up, along with dairy products and cereals.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
PPS I asked Gregory if he had any tips on how to be an exceptional poultry farmer.
From "Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer" by Kelly Jones
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.
