Wiktionary

duckling

English

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A mother duck and her ducklings

Etymology

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From Middle English dokeling, dukling, dookelynge (“duckling”), equivalent to duck +‎ -ling.

Pronunciation

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  • enPR: dŭkʹlĭng, IPA(key): /ˈdʌklɪŋ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌklɪŋ

Noun

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duckling (plural ducklings)

  2. A young duck.
    Synonym: ducklet
  3. A young female duck.
    Synonym: ducklet
    Coordinate terms: drakelet, drakeling
    • 1858, “Edith Clarel: A Story from Three Points of View”, in The Money Bag: Literature, Politics, Finance, volume I, number 4, London: Daniel F. Oakey, […], page 232:
      Good night, darling; take that kiss to your respected mother, and tell her with my compliments that we can’t afford to make ducks and drakes of the romance of our little pet’s life: she will hatch those birds for herself in due time, and remain cluck-clucking, wisely, but sadly, like a perplexed old hen, when her ducklings and drakelings have unexpectedly taken the water.
    • 1951, Supplement to the Journal of the Department of Agriculture of Western Australia, volume 28, page 216:
      Referring to Table 1 it will be seen that if a breeding duck produces 40 marketable progeny each year (and in practice this should be achieved) half of which are ducklings and the other half drakelings, and these birds realise 2s. per lb. live weight, then that breeding duck would return approximately £15 10s. over feeding costs for the 12 months.
    • 1961, Allan A[rthur] McArdle, Poultry Management and Production (Agricultural and Livestock Series), Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus and Robertson, page 563:
      Muscovy ducks with ducklings. This is the most popular breed for table purposes. They make weights of up to 5 lb. for ducklings at 13 to 14 weeks, and up to 9 lb. for drakelings at 16 weeks when correctly handled.

Derived terms

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Translations

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  NODES
Note 1