wigeon

[wij-uh n]

noun, plural wig·eons, (especially collectively) wig·eon.

widgeon.

widgeon

or wig·eon

[wij-uh n]

noun, plural widg·eons, (especially collectively) widg·eon for 1.

any of several common freshwater ducks related to the mallards and teals in the genus Anas, having metallic green flight feathers, a white wing patch, and a buff or white forehead, including A. penelope of Eurasia and North Africa, A. sibilatrix of South America, and the baldpate, A. americana, of North America.
Obsolete. a fool.

Origin of widgeon

1505–15; perhaps < an AF correspondent of French vigeon < Vulgar Latin; compare Medieval Latin vipiō kind of crane (derivative of vip- imitative of bird's cry)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for wigeon

Historical Examples of wigeon

The same remarks may be said to apply to the Teal, the Wigeon, and some few others.
Among the Birds in Northern Shires
Charles Dixon
By four oclock we had secured, in five drives, eleven geese and a wigeon.
Unexplored Spain
Abel Chapman
For the following statements, see on the wigeon, Loudon’s ‘Mag.
The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex
Charles Darwin
Many of the Wigeon and other ducks, and all Golden Plovers are now gone.
Wild Spain (Espaa agreste)
Abel Chapman
Other species also form magaonas, but more rarely and never in so conspicuous a manner as the wigeon.
Unexplored Spain
Abel Chapman

British Dictionary definitions for wigeon

wigeon

widgeon

noun

a Eurasian duck, Anas penelope, of marshes, swamps, etc, the male of which has a reddish-brown head and chest and grey and white back and wings
American wigeon or baldpate a similar bird, Anas americana, of North America, the male of which has a white crown

Word Origin for wigeon

C16: of uncertain origin

widgeon

noun

a variant spelling of wigeon

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 wigeon

widgeon

migratory wild duck, 1510s, perhaps from some variant of French vigeon, which some trace to Latin vipionem (nominative vipio), "a kind of small crane," a Balearic word, perhaps imitative. OED, however, finds all this "very dubious."