guinea fowl

/ˈɡɪni ˌfaʊl/

guinea fowl noun: any of several African birds of the family Numididae (6 species) resembling partridges.

Noun (1)

guinea fowl (countable and uncountable, plural guinea fowls or guinea fowl)

(countable) Any of several African birds of the family Numididae (6 species) resembling partridges.
- A tiny white head with a small red wattle hanging from its beak was peeking into our tent. It whistled softly. I laughed. A guinea fowl.2018, Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death, HarperVoyager, page 273
(uncountable) The meat of this bird.
- While Lawrence had given her the uncut version of his divorce, she had stolidly munched her way through a vast plate of guinea fowl stuffed with foie gras, boulangère potatoes and a wigwam of French beans.1998, Judy Astley, chapter 13, in Every Good Girl, Leicester: Ulverscroft, published 1999, →ISBN, page 211
- To the right is a long table housing a mouth-watering buffet of roast duck on platters, surrounded by smaller plates of guinea fowl, French bread, cold meats, and egg segments.2012, Lynda Renham, chapter 33, in Croissants and Jam: A Romantic Comedy, 2nd edition, [Combe]: Raucous Publishing, →ISBN, page 272

Guinea fowl (countable and uncountable, plural Guinea fowls or Guinea fowl)

Alternative letter-case form of guinea fowl.
- And it is not a little ſurpriſing that the Guinea fowls, which are real natives of the country, and are ſoon domeſticated, ſhould be neglected by them; for it is never ſeen tame but in poſſeſſion of the Whites, or of thoſe who adopt their manners.1786 July 29, John Matthews, “Letter IV.”, in A Voyage to the River Sierra-Leone, on the Coast of Africa; […], London: […] B[enjamin] White and Son, […] and J[ohn] Sewell, […], published 1788, →OCLC...
- The Guinea fowls assimilate perfectly with the common species, in habits and in kinds of food; but have this peculiarity, that the cocks and hens are so nearly alike, it is difficult to distinguish them.1822, Bonington Moubray [pseudonym; John Lawrence], “Pintada”, in A Practical Treatise on Breeding, Rearing, and Fattening, All Kinds of Domestic Poultry, Pheasants, Pigeons, and Rabbits […], 4th...

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Named after Guinea as it was imported from there.

What does guinea fowl mean?: Guinea fowl means any of several African birds of the family Numididae (6 species) resembling partridges.
What is guinea fowl in Tamil?: Guinea fowl in Tamil is கின்னிக்கோழி (kiṉṉikkōḻi). See Guinea fowl meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is guinea fowl?: Guinea fowl is a noun.
How do you pronounce guinea fowl?: Guinea fowl is pronounced /ˈɡɪni ˌfaʊl/.
What is the plural of guinea fowl?: The plural of guinea fowl is guinea fowls.

Adapted from Wiktionary: guinea fowl (page history and authors); Guinea fowl (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-guinea fowl.wav.

Cite this entry: “guinea fowl.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/guinea_fowl. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.