Goose

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ɡuːs/

Definitions

1. A large waterfowl with a long neck, webbed feet, and a distinctive honking call, typically found in flocks near ponds and lakes
2. A type of waterbird characterized by its elongated neck, broad wings, and social behavior, often seen in wetlands and known for its loud vocalizations
3. This bird, belonging to the Anatidae family, is recognized for its aquatic adaptations, including webbed feet and migratory tendencies, typically found in groups

Etymology: The goose has one of the oldest pedigrees of any common English word, traceable back to an Indo-European root shared by animal names across Europe and Asia. Its forms in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Sanskrit (ānser, khḗn, haṃsá) all point to the same bird, and the Germanic branch carried it into Old English as "gōs." The same ancestor is behind the Dutch "gans," German "Gans," and Scandinavian "gås," so the word has stayed remarkably stable for thousands of years. The English word is in the same family as those cognates: its Middle English form "goos" or "gos" descended directly from the Old English "gōs," which had already been passed down through Proto-Germanic. Because the Latin and Greek words share the same root, the bird's name was among the vocabulary European languages inherited from a common ancestor. The verb sense, meaning to prod or poke someone, is a later development. A separate and more unusual sense is the tailor's iron, a heavy pressing tool named for the likeness of its handle to the neck of a goose.

Synonyms: bird, fowl

Antonyms: duck