Etymologically
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pigeon

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈpɪ.dʒɪn/, /ˈpɪ.dʒən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English pijoun, also pejon and pigeon,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman pigon, also pijun,[5] and Old French pijon (“young bird, especially a young dove”),[5][2][4][6] probably from Vulgar Latin *pībiō,[7][2][8] an alteration by dissimilation of p to b[8][2] of Late Latin pīpiō (“young chirping bird, squab”),[2][7][8][5][9] a word formed from an imitative base, the source also of pipe.[10][4][9][11] The Latin word is recorded with the sense "squab" from the 5th century,[5] and is the source of piccione, pichón and pijon.[5][12] Ayto explains that it first meant simply a young bird and narrowed to a young pigeon; only that sense reached English, where it soon gave way to "pigeon" in general.[10] In English it displaced culver, from Old English culufre, and the native dove.[2][12] The surname “Pigun” is found in England from 1211, but the OED cannot tell whether it reflects the French or the English word.[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A pigeon, a dove: 1375 in the OED,[5] 1373 (as pichon) in Barnhart.[8][13] Hoad and the OED also record the obsolete sense "a young dove, a squab", from about 1400 to 1601.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

By the 1580s the name was used of wild birds of the family Columbidae in general,[5] and soon after of other birds, especially seabirds, that resemble pigeons.[5] Figurative uses followed in the 16th century: a gullible person, the victim of a swindler, especially at gambling (about 1525 in the OED, the 1590s in Etymonline),[5][2][4] which gave the verb to pigeon, to cheat or fleece (1675);[5][14][3] a coward (about 1571 to 1715);[5] and since 1592 a sweetheart or darling,[5] with Green's Dictionary of Slang recording "a young woman" from 1586.[14] Johnson (1755) described the bird simply as a fowl bred in dovecotes.[15] Weekley noted that the sense "victim of a sharper" was common from the 16th century.[12] In the 19th century a pigeon was also a moving target in shooting (1875, compare clay pigeon),[5] and in American slang of the 20th century an informer.[14] Compounds draw on the bird's habits and looks: a pigeon-pair, twins of opposite sex, because pigeons were thought to hatch a male and a female,[2] pigeon-toed from its walk,[16] and pigeonhole from the openings of a dovecote.[12]

Timeline

  • 1375 – a domesticated pigeon.[5]
  • c. 1400 – a young dove, a squab (obsolete by 1601).[5][4]
  • c. 1425 – a pigeon as food.[5]
  • c. 1525 – a gullible person, a dupe.[5]
  • 1581 – any wild bird of the pigeon family.[5]
  • 1592 – a sweetheart, a darling.[5]
  • 1620 – with a distinguishing word, a bird resembling a pigeon.[5]
  • 1675 – verb, to cheat or swindle.[5][14]
  • 1875 – a moving target used in shooting.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A stout-bodied bird with a small head, short legs and a cooing call, of the family Columbidae; especially the domestic pigeon descended from the rock dove, bred in many varieties.[17][3][5]
  2. The flesh of a pigeon as food: pigeon pie.[5][3]
  3. (slang) A person who is easily cheated; a dupe.[17][5][3]
  4. A moving target used in shooting practice; a clay pigeon.[5]
  5. A sweetheart or darling.[5][14]
  6. (obsolete, 1400–1601) A young dove; a squab.[5][4]

Verb

  1. (archaic) To cheat or swindle, especially at cards or gambling.[18][5][3]

Word family

  • carrier pigeon
  • homing pigeon

Usage notes

The spelling pigeon is also found for pidgin, in pigeon English[19][7] and in the British phrase that's not my pigeon, not my business or concern, which owes nothing to the bird.[16][14][17]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  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. ^ Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  14. ^ a b c d e f Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  16. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  17. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  18. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  19. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster