Plural of covey

irregular plural

The plural of covey is covies or coveys.

Forms of covey

The store is on a corner about which coveys of ragged-plumed, hilarious children play and become candidates for the cough drops and soothing syrups that wait for them inside.1906 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Love-Philtre of Ikey Schoenstein”, in The Four Million, New York, N.Y....
These are the days when in shrill perfumed coveys they flutter through the houses and clubhouses of America's big cities.1941 January 27, “Subdebs”, in LIFE, page 75. From the entry subdebutante
Frequently the growling of our lorry would frighten up coveys of waracabra—black jungle birds somewhat resembling guinea fowls, but with larger and longer legs.1953, Robert H. Pierson, Paddles Over the Kamarang: The Story of the Davis Indians, page 7. From the entry waracabra

noun A brood or family of partridges (family Phasianidae), which includes game birds such as grouse (tribe Tetraonini) and ptarmigans (tribe Tetraonini, genus Lagopus).
noun A group of other birds, such as quail (superfamily Phasianoidea).
noun A group or party of people; also, a group or set of things.

What is the plural of covey?: The plural of covey is covies or coveys.
Which is correct, covies or coveys?: Both are used. coveys is the more common of the two in English writing.
Is covey countable?: Covey is a countable noun.

Adapted from Wiktionary: covey (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “Plural of covey.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plural/covey. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.