waterfowl

Etymology

It is formed from English water + fowl,^[2][3][4][5] in Middle English water foul.^[5][6] The same compound is found in Middle Dutch watervoghel (now Dutch watervogel), Old High German wazzarvogel and Middle High German wazzervogel (now German Wasservogel).^[2][4][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bird living on or near water: before 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the early 14th century,^[4] and Dictionary.com to 1250–1300.^[8] Chaucer used it eight times, among them in the Parliament of Fowls.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

At first the word named any bird found in or near water; in later use it means more often the larger swimming birds, especially ducks, geese and swans hunted as game.^[2][3][9] Etymonline likewise describes it as a swimming bird, especially one hunted for food,^[4] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged distinguishes the swimming game birds as waterfowl from upland game birds and shorebirds.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as fowl that live or find their food in water, quoting Bacon.^[10] The plural is now usually the same as the singular, and waterfowls is rare.^[3] The derivatives waterfowler and waterfowling, for the hunter and the hunt, are American and date from the late 20th century.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1382 – a bird found on or near water, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bird that lives on or near water, especially a duck, goose or swan of the family Anatidae: Hundreds of waterfowl rested on the reservoir.^[9][5][2]
2. Such birds collectively, especially the swimming birds hunted as game.^[9][5][3]

Word family

• waterfowler

Related words

• water
• fowl

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
7. ^ a b Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.