Guan

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A tropical bird native to Central and South America, typically large and with a long tail, known for its distinctive calls and sometimes hunted for meat ; a term that can refer to certain species within the family Cracidae which share similar habitats and behaviors ; also used to describe various game birds favored in some cultures for culinary purposes
2. Any of several large, long-tailed, tropical birds found mainly in forests of Central and South America, known for loud vocalizations and valued as game birds ; representatives of a bird family characterized by prominent calls and arboreal habits, often hunted for food ; sometimes used to denote other similar wild fowl known regionally by this name
3. A sizeable forest bird inhabiting neotropical regions, recognized for its distinctive calls and importance in local hunting traditions ; a member of a group of upland game birds with substantial size and coloration ranging from dark to vibrant ; also broadly applied to several related game bird species found in tropical Americas

Etymology: The bird's name comes from the Kuna people of the Panama and Colombia region, whose word "kwama" was taken up by Spanish speakers in the Americas. The Spanish form that reached English was "guan", and English speakers borrowed it to name the cracid birds of Central and South America, large, long-legged relatives of the chicken and turkey. The word is a borrowing rather than a coinage from a European language, so its path runs from an indigenous language of the Americas, through American Spanish, into English. That route explains why it sounds so unlike the Latin and Greek roots most readers expect in natural history names. Its later extension to several related game birds shows how a single local name could spread to a whole family of similar species.

Synonyms: bird, pheasant