Poulterer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who buys, sells, or prepares chickens, ducks, geese, and other domestic birds for food
2. A tradesman whose business is selling fowl and game birds to customers as food
3. Someone who deals in poultry, often running a shop that sells dressed birds for the table

Etymology: A poulterer is someone who sells poultry, and the word carries a double "-er" that looks like a mistake but is not one. The older form was "poulter," which came into Middle English as "pulter," borrowed from Old French "pouletier," a dealer in fowl. That French word rests on "poulet," meaning a young fowl, so the base is essentially "poult" (a young bird) with a suffix added. English then added a second "-er" to an agent noun that already ended in one, so the word now reads as "poult" plus two agent suffixes. The result is a trade name that has kept both layers of French and English grammar visible in its spelling.

Synonyms: poulter, poultry seller