turkey (English)

Where does "turkey" come from?

The English word 'turkey' is a clipping of 'turkey-cock' and 'turkey-hen'[1]. It originally denoted the guinea fowl, an African bird that was first imported to Europe through Turkey[1]. Later, the word was transferred to the superficially similar North American bird known as 'Meleagris gallopavo'[1].

Open questions

• There is some controversy over the exact origin of how the bird name became associated with Turkey. [1]

Full etymology tree

• turkey (English), 'The guinea fowl (family Numididae).'
  • clipping turkey-cock (English), 'Alternative form of turkeycock.'

Descendants and derived words

• Albuquerque turkey (English)
• Australian brushturkey (English)
• brush turkey (English)
• brush-turkey (English)
• bush turkey (English)
• Cape Cod turkey (English)
• churkey (English)
• cold turkey (English)
• cold turkey (English)
• cold turkey (English)
• hand turkey (English)
• jive turkey (English)

Sources

1. turkey (English) - Wiktionary
2. turkey-hen (English) - Wiktionary

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris