Standard Lemma guide

poultry

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈpɒltɹi/
  • UK: /ˈpəʊltɹi/
  • Canada, US: /ˈpoʊltɹi/
  • California, Southern: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian: /ˈpɔltɹi/
  • Australian: /ˈpəʉltɹi/
  • homophone: paltry (some accents)
  • CMU ARPABET: P OW1 L T R IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Domestic fowl (e.g. chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese) raised for food (meat, eggs, or both).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • a poultry farmer

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: bird, animal, creature, critter

2

noun

Meaning 2

The meat from a domestic fowl.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • the poultry counter

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: meat, food

3

noun

Meaning 3

a domesticated gallinaceous bird thought to be descended from the red jungle fowl

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: domestic fowl, fowl

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: gallinaceous bird, gallinacean

Narrower terms: Dorking, Plymouth Rock, Cornish, Cornish fowl, Rock Cornish, game fowl, cochin, cochin china, chicken, Gallus gallus, bantam, turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, guinea fowl, guinea, Numida meleagris

4

noun

Meaning 4

flesh of chickens or turkeys or ducks or geese raised for food

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: bird, fowl

Narrower terms: chicken, poulet, volaille, Rock Cornish hen, guinea hen, squab, dove, duck, goose, turkey

History

Etymology

From Middle English pultrie, from Old French pouleterie, from poulet, diminutive of poule (“hen”), from Latin pullus (“chick”). By surface analysis, poult + -ry. For the development of Middle English /u/ to modern /oʊ/, /əʊ/ before /lt/, /ld/, /ln/, compare boult, boulder, colter/coulter, poultice, shoulder, won't.

Across languages

Translations

86 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: دَجَاج (dajāj) — domestic fowl
  • Arabic: دَوَاجِن (dawājin) — domestic fowl
  • Arabic: دواجن (dawāgen) — domestic fowl
  • Arabic: دجاج (djāj) — domestic fowl
  • Armenian: ընտանի թռչուններ (əntani tʻṙčʻunner) — domestic fowl
  • Bashkir: ҡош-ҡорт (qoş-qort) — domestic fowl
  • Belarusian: сво́йская пту́шка (svójskaja ptúška) — domestic fowl
  • Bulgarian: птица (ptica) — domestic fowl
  • Bulgarian: дома́шна пти́ца (domášna ptíca) — domestic fowl
  • Catalan: aviram — domestic fowl
  • Catalan: volateria — domestic fowl
  • Chinese Mandarin: 家禽 (jiāqín) — domestic fowl
  • Czech: drůbež — domestic fowl
  • Danish: fjerkræ — domestic fowl
  • Dutch: pluimvee — domestic fowl
  • Esperanto: kortobirdo — domestic fowl
  • Esperanto: kortobirdaro — domestic fowl
  • Finnish: siipikarja — domestic fowl
  • French: volaille — domestic fowl
  • French: volailles — domestic fowl
  • French: basse-cour — domestic fowl
  • German: Geflügel — domestic fowl
  • Greek: πουλερικά (pouleriká) — domestic fowl
  • Hungarian: baromfi — domestic fowl
  • Indonesian: unggas — domestic fowl
  • Irish: éanlaith — domestic fowl
  • Italian: pollame — domestic fowl
  • Japanese: 家禽 (kakin) — domestic fowl
  • Japanese: 家禽類 (kakin-rui) — domestic fowl
  • Korean: 가금 (gageum) — domestic fowl
  • Macedonian: живина (živina) — domestic fowl
  • Malay: unggas domestik — domestic fowl
  • Malay: poltri — domestic fowl
  • Norman: volaille — domestic fowl
  • Norwegian Bokmål: fjærfe — domestic fowl
  • Norwegian Bokmål: fjørfe — domestic fowl
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: fjørfe — domestic fowl
  • Pannonian Rusyn: дробизґ (drobizg) — domestic fowl
  • Pannonian Rusyn: живина (živina) — domestic fowl
  • Persian: ماکیان (mâkiyân) — domestic fowl
  • Polish: drób — domestic fowl
  • Portuguese: ave doméstica — domestic fowl
  • Portuguese: ave de capoeira — domestic fowl
  • Portuguese: ave de corte — domestic fowl
  • Russian: дома́шняя пти́ца (domášnjaja ptíca) — domestic fowl
  • Serbo-Croatian: живина — domestic fowl
  • Serbo-Croatian: перад — domestic fowl
  • Serbo-Croatian: živina — domestic fowl
  • Serbo-Croatian: perad — domestic fowl
  • Slovak: hydina — domestic fowl
  • Slovene: perutnina — domestic fowl
  • Lower Sorbian: pjerina — domestic fowl
  • Spanish: ave de corral — domestic fowl
  • Swedish: fjäderfä — domestic fowl
  • Turkish: kümes hayvanları — domestic fowl
  • Ukrainian: сві́йський птах (svíjsʹkyj ptax) — domestic fowl
  • Ukrainian: сві́йська пти́ця (svíjsʹka ptýcja) — domestic fowl
  • Volapük: bödem — domestic fowl
  • Walloon: poytreye — domestic fowl
  • Walloon: poyes — domestic fowl
  • Arabic: دجاج (djāj) — fowl meat
  • Armenian: թռչնամիս (tʻṙčʻnamis) — fowl meat
  • Catalan: aviram — fowl meat
  • Chinese Mandarin: 禽肉 (qínròu) — fowl meat
  • Danish: fjerkræ — fowl meat
  • Dutch: pluimvee — fowl meat
  • Dutch: gevogelte — fowl meat
  • Esperanto: birdaĵo — fowl meat
  • Esperanto: kortobirdaĵo — fowl meat
  • Finnish: lintu — fowl meat
  • Finnish: linnunliha — fowl meat
  • German: Geflügel — fowl meat
  • Greek: πουλερικό (poulerikó) — fowl meat
  • Hebrew: עוֹף — fowl meat
  • Indonesian: daging unggas — fowl meat
  • Japanese: 家禽 (kakin) — fowl meat
  • Japanese: 家禽類 (kakin-rui) — fowl meat
  • Macedonian: живина (živina) — fowl meat
  • Māori: kikomanu — fowl meat
  • Polish: drób — fowl meat
  • Portuguese: carne de ave — fowl meat
  • Russian: мя́со пти́цы (mjáso ptícy) — fowl meat
  • Slovene: perutnina — fowl meat
  • Spanish: pollería — fowl meat
  • Walloon: poye — fowl meat
  • Walloon: polet — fowl meat
Real reading context

poultry in complete knowledge articles