pigeon
Syllables: pi·geonUK/ˈpɪ.dʒɪn/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
New Zealand/ˈpə.dʒən/
pigeon noun: one of several birds of the family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes.
Noun (1)
pigeon (countable and uncountable, plural pigeons)
- One of several birds of the family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes.
- The meat from this bird.
- A person who is a target or victim of a confidence game.
- A pacifist, appeaser, an isolationist, a dove.
- A person hired to transport film footage out of a region where transport options are limited.
- Kalb rushed to the airport and found a "pigeon" to take out the film: an American woman headed for London.1989, Whitman Bassow, The Moscow Correspondents, page 214
- At this point, all the commercial airports in Pakistan were closed. The only way to get film out was over land. John promptly hired me to be what was then known in the business as a "Pigeon," and installed me in a comfortable room in his hotel. […] I would then hand-carry his film out of the...2021, Hilary Brown, War Tourist: Memoirs of a Foreign Correspondent
- A weak or useless person.
Verb
pigeon (third-person singular simple present pigeons, present participle pigeoning, simple past and past participle pigeoned)
- To deceive with a confidence game.
Noun (2)
pigeon (countable and uncountable, plural pigeons)
- Concern or responsibility.
- It's their pigeon.
Proper noun capitalized: Pigeon
Pigeon (countable and uncountable, plural Pigeons)
- A surname.
- An unincorporated community in Jackson Township, Spencer County, Indiana.
- Two townships in Indiana, in Vanderburgh County and Warrick County.
- A village in Winsor Township, Huron County, Michigan.
- An unincorporated community in Roane County, West Virginia, named after Pigeon Run.
- A town in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin.
pigeon meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
pigeon in Hindi
- bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- कबूतर kabūtar, कपोत kapot, परेवा parevā
pigeon in Tamil
- bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- புறா puṟā
pigeon in Marathi
- bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- कबूतर kabūtar
pigeon in Urdu
- bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- کبوتر kabutar
More languagesFewer languages
- pigeon in Bengali
- কবুতর kobutor
- pigeon in Telugu
- పావురము pāvuramu
- pigeon in Malayalam
- പ്രാവ് prāvŭ
- pigeon in Kannada
- ಕಪೋತ kapōta, ಹರಿ hari
- pigeon in Punjabi
- ਕਬੂਤਰ kabūtar
- pigeon in Gujarati
- કબૂતર kabūtar, પારેવું pārevũ, કપોત kapot
- pigeon in Odia
- ପାରା pārā, ପାରିଆ pāriā, ପାରୁଆ pāruā
- pigeon in Sanskrit
- कपोत kapota
- pigeon in Assamese
- পাৰ paro
- pigeon in Nepali
- परेवा parewā
- pigeon in Pashto
- کوتره kawtára
- pigeon in Tagalog
- kalapati
- pigeon in Arabic
- حَمَامَة ḥamāma
- pigeon in Malay
- merpati
- pigeon in Indonesian
- merpati, burung merpati, dara, burung dara
- pigeon in Persian
- کبوتر kabutar
- pigeon in Thai
- พิราบ pí-râap
- pigeon in Vietnamese
- bồ câu
- pigeon in Myanmar
- ခို hkui
- Dhivehi
- ކޮތަރު kotaru
- Kashmiri
- کوتُر kōtur
- Dzongkha
- ཕུག་རོན། phug ron, ཕུ་ཀྲེ phu kre
Examples of pigeon in a sentence
- They sat on a park bench and tossed bread crumbs to the ducks and pigeons.
- The pigeons were happily pecking at crumbs of bread on the ground.
- A kindly old man sits on the park bench every afternoon feeding pigeons.
Synonyms of pigeon
21 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of pigeon
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | pigeons |
| alternative form (archaic) | pidgeon |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | pigeons |
| present participle | pigeoning |
| past participle | pigeoned |
| past | pigeoned |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Pigeons |
Origin of pigeon
Inherited from Middle English pygeoun, borrowed from Old French pyjon, inherited from Late Latin pīpiōnem (“chirping bird”), derived from Latin pīpiāre (“to chirp”), of imitative origin. Partly displaced native English dove.
From pidgin English, from a Chinese Pidgin English pronunciation of English business during trade in the Far East. See pidgin.
Words formed from pigeon
- Afep pigeon
- African green pigeon
- African olive pigeon
- American pigeon
- Australian pied imperial pigeon
- band-tailed pigeon
- bare-eyed mountain pigeon
- bare-eyed pigeon
- Bismarck imperial pigeon
- black imperial pigeon
- blue pigeon
- Bolle's pigeon
- bronzewing pigeon
- brown pigeon
- Chatham Island pigeon
- Chilean pigeon
- common wood pigeon
- Comoros green pigeon
- crested pigeon
- crowned pigeon
- Delegorgue's pigeon
- eastern bronze-naped pigeon
- flock bronzewing pigeon
- flock bronzewing
- flock pigeon
- fruit pigeon
- fruit-pigeon
- green pigeon
- ha-ha pigeon
- hill pigeon
- imperial pigeon
- kelp pigeon
- laurel pigeon
- Madagascar green pigeon
- Madagascan green pigeon
- Madeiran wood pigeon †Columba palumbus maderensis
- Micronesian imperial pigeon
- Micronesian pigeon
- Moluccan rufous-bellied fruit pigeon
- New Guinea bronzewing
- New Guinea bronzewing pigeon
- New Zealand pigeon
- Nicobar pigeon
- nutmeg pigeon
- pale-vented pigeon
- passenger pigeon
- pheasant pigeon
- Picazuro pigeon
- pigeon guillemot
- pigeon hawk
- pink pigeon
- plain pigeon
- plumbeous pigeon
- rock pigeon
- ruddy pigeon
- rufous-bellied fruit pigeon
- rufous pigeon
- sea pigeon
- silvery pigeon
- snow pigeon
Phrases with pigeon
- hen pigeon
- owl pigeon
- pigeon pea
- pigeon pie
- pigeon pox
- pigeon toe
- city pigeon
- clay pigeon
- cock pigeon
- King pigeon
- moon pigeon
- pigeon bean
73 more phrasesFewer phrases
- pigeon coop
- pigeon drop
- pigeon hole
- pigeon loft
- pigeon pair
- pigeon peas
- pigeon pies
- pigeon plum
- pigeon pose
- pigeon post
- wood pigeon
- crown pigeon
- feral pigeon
- homer pigeon
- pigeon beans
- pigeon chest
- pigeon clock
- pigeon coops
- pigeon drops
- Pigeon Forge
- pigeon hawks
- pigeon holes
- pigeon lofts
- pigeon pairs
- pigeon plums
- Pigeon Ponds
- pigeon poses
- stock pigeon
- stool pigeon
- White Pigeon
- wonga pigeon
- homing pigeon
- pigeon chests
- pigeon clocks
- Pigeon Island
- pigeon racing
- pigeon tremex
- racing pigeon
- street pigeon
- carrier pigeon
- pigeon dropper
- pigeon English
- pigeon fancier
- topknot pigeon
- utility pigeon
- domestic pigeon
- pigeon droppers
- pigeon dropping
- pigeon fancying
- spinifex pigeon
- messenger pigeon
- pigeon droppings
- trumpeter pigeon
- blue pigeon flyer
- pigeon guillemots
- blue pigeon flyers
- cut the pigeon wing
- fly the blue pigeon
- tooth-billed pigeon
- white nutmeg pigeon
- cuts the pigeon wing
- flew the blue pigeon
- Madeiran wood pigeon
- Torres Strait pigeon
- flies the blue pigeon
- flown the blue pigeon
- pigeon fancier's lung
- flying the blue pigeon
- cutting the pigeon wing
- pink-necked green pigeon
- thick-billed green pigeon
- Torresian imperial pigeon
- jealous as a Barbary pigeon
Words that rhyme with pigeon
Questions about pigeon
- What does pigeon mean?
- Pigeon means one of several birds of the family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes.
- What is pigeon in Hindi?
- Pigeon in Hindi is कबूतर (kabūtar), कपोत (kapot), परेवा (parevā). See Pigeon meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is pigeon?
- Pigeon can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce pigeon?
- Pigeon is pronounced /ˈpɪ.dʒɪn/ (UK).
- What is the plural of pigeon?
- The plural of pigeon is pigeons.
Words near pigeon in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pigeon (page history and authors); Pigeon (page history and authors); ಕಪೋತ (Kannada) (page history and authors); ପାରା (Odia) (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-pigeon.ogg.
Cite this entry: “pigeon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pigeon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.