Poussins

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A young bird, particularly a chicken, that is still in its early stages of development
2. A term that refers to a specific age of poultry, generally before reaching maturity
3. In culinary contexts, it denotes tender and small chicken typically prepared for gourmet dishes

Etymology: "Poussins" is the plural of "poussin," a term for a young chicken or other fowl, especially one not yet fully grown. English borrowed the singular from French, where "poussin" means the same thing, and the French word traces back to Late Latin "pullicēnus," a derivative of the Latin "pullus," meaning young animal or chick. The Latin root also gave English "pullet," and the two words are close relatives that arrived by different routes. The Latin ancestor "pullicēnus" shows how the sense of "young fowl" was built into the word from its start: it is essentially a "chick-like" form of "pullus." French then reshaped it into "poussin," and that French form is what English adopted, keeping the plural "poussins" as a regular addition for the count noun.

Synonyms: young chickens, chicks, baby chickens