Meanings
plural architectural ducks
- architectureA structure built in the style of duck architecture.
With Suffolk County's Big Duck, as with other architectural ducks, the building itself is the signage, a colossal, three-dimensional, representational advertisement.
2020s, “Suffolk County, NY”, in Suffolk County, NYSynonyms: duck building, duck
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA structure built in the style of duck architecture.
Origin
From architectural + duck. The term was coined by architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown in 1968; inspired by the original "Big Duck" building in Long Island, New York, built in 1931 to sell ducks and duck eggs.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
architectural duck. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/architectural%20duck
“architectural duck.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/architectural%20duck. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “architectural duck,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/architectural%20duck.
Source: architectural duck on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.