waterfowl

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

From Middle English waterfoul, water-foul, equivalent to water + fowl. Compare Old English dopfugel (“waterfowl, moorhen”, literally “dipping-fowl”).

Has the waterfowl traveled far? — Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year, E. C. (Ernest Clark) Hartwell
To a Waterfowl 416 355. — Children's Literature: A Textbook of Sources for Teachers and Teacher-Training Classes, Charles Madison Curry
Where he had been hawking after waterfowl. — The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems, Geoffrey Chaucer

water bird, waterbird

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