Pulet

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A young female chicken, especially one that has not yet begun to lay eggs
2. An archaic term for a young hen, typically one under a year old and not yet laying
3. A immature female fowl, usually kept on a farm for its eggs or later for meat

Etymology: "Pulet" is an obsolete English word for a young hen, and it is a borrowing from Old French "poulet," the diminutive of "poule" ("hen"). The Old French word came from Latin "pullus," meaning a young animal or chick, which also gave English "pullet" in its modern spelling. In fact, "pulet" and "pullet" are the same word in two spellings: English took the term in the Middle Ages, and the spelling settled into "pullet" over the following centuries, while "pulet" survived as a variant for a time. The word has a notable connection to the French for chicken cooked for the table. "Poulet" in modern French means the bird as food, a meaning that English did not adopt for "pullet." Instead, English kept the sense of a young female fowl, usually one that has not yet begun laying eggs, and that narrower agricultural meaning is still the one dictionaries record today.