mallard

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English malard, also maulard,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French mallard (“wild drake, drake”), the Anglo-Norman form, also malart and maslart in Old French,^[4][5] perhaps reinforced by Medieval Latin mallardus.^[2][6] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1190–1210.^[5] It is probably formed from masle (“male”), the source of male, and the suffix -art (-ard);^{[4][7][8][9][10]} Skeat observed that this suffix was used especially of males, so that the idea of "male" appears twice.^[11] Masle is from Latin masculus (“male, masculine”).^[2][6] The OED notes that the derivation from the Old High German personal name “Madelhart”, proposed by Weekley among others, is now usually rejected,^[4][12] and Klein derived the word from West Flemish maskelaar, influenced by masle.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The common wild duck: 1314, in the wardrobe accounts of Edward II.^[4] Barnhart finds maulard probably before 1300 in Arthour and Merlin,^[2] which the OED dates about 1330 and gives for the male of the species.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant the male of the wild duck, the drake, and now names either sex of the species, Anas platyrhynchos.^[10][8][6] Etymonline thinks the earliest sense was probably any male wild duck rather than one species.^[6] The specific sense "drake" lasted until the late 19th century (last recorded 1893),^[4] and Johnson (1755) still defined the word as the drake of the wild duck, quoting Shakespeare's "doating mallard" in Antony and Cleopatra.^[14] From before 1425 it was also the flesh of the bird as food.^[4][8] The Mallard is a festival held on 14 January at All Souls College, Oxford, recorded from 1633.^[4] In Devon dialect mallard was still a male duck about 1900.^[15]

Timeline

• 1314 – the wild duck.^[4]
• c. 1330 – the male of the wild duck, a drake (now obsolete).^[4][2]
• before 1425 – the flesh of the duck as food.^[4]
• 1633 – the Mallard festival at All Souls College, Oxford.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A common wild duck of the northern hemisphere, Anas platyrhynchos, the ancestor of most domestic ducks, the male of which has a dark green head and a chestnut breast.^[16][9][4]
2. The flesh of this duck as food.^[4][8]
3. the Mallard: a festival held on 14 January at All Souls College, Oxford.^[4]
4. (obsolete, c. 1330–1893) The male of the wild duck; a drake.^[4][8][14]

Related words

• male
• masculine

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins