Turkey Meaning
/ˈtɜːki/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe guinea fowl (family Numididae).
nounA bird in the genus Meleagris with a fan-shaped tail and wattled neck., A wild turkey of Meleagris gallopavo.
Sentence Examples
Maybe, but he wants me to stop cold turkey.
Well, let's talk turkey.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Every year my family roasted a large ____ with stuffing for Thanksgiving dinner.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We had a large roasted ____ for our family dinner last night, which is a traditional meal for special occasions today.
Word Origin & History
Clipping of turkey-cock and turkey-hen, originally denoting the guinea fowl, an African bird that was first imported to Europe through Turkey, but there is some controversy over the origin. The word was then transferred to the superficially similar North American bird Meleagris gallopavo.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"It was a Turkey! He never could have stood upon his legs, that bird. He would have snapped 'em short off in a minute, like sticks of sealing-wax."
— 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 157:
"Mumford (1970) noted that the terms ‘crock’, ‘gomer’, and ‘turkey’, were sometimes utilized by interns to designate different types of undesirable patients, and sometimes used synonymously."
— [1976, Stephen Charles Frankel, Emergency Medical Care in an Urban Area (Ph.D. dissertation in Anthropology), Berkeley, Calif.: University of California, Berkeley, →OCLC, page 118:
"And despite the gross incompetence of Hemmings' direction, the ludicrous script, and the heavy-handed acting, there remains a stellar reason to see and enjoy Just a Gigolo: David Bowie. David Bowie is a great actor, and not even this turkey can obscure that fact."
— 1981 August 8, Rob Schmieder, “Starring Bowie and Berlin”, in Gay Community News, page 11:
"There were a few turkeys. In the rush to present a futuristic vision, the railways' heritage was largely forgotten and we ended up with new stations at Euston and at Coventry, its brash sidekick which I particularly loathe, although (of course) it won design awards."
— 2021 April 7, Christian Wolmar, “Electrification is a given... but comfort matters as well”, in RAIL, number 928, page 46:
"One Terrorgram user livestreamed himself stabbing five people outside of a mosque in Turkey, she said, and a 19-year-old Slovakian man praised the group in a manifesto before killing two people at an LGBTQ bar in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia."
— 2024 September 9, Hannah Rabinowitz, “Alleged leaders of White supremacist group charged in effort to encourage terrorism and hate crimes”, in CNN:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Every year my family roasted a large ____ with stuffing for Thanksgiving dinner.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
We had a large roasted ____ for our family dinner last night, which is a traditional meal for special occasions today.