Meanings
pigeon1
nounpigeon (countable and uncountable, plural pigeons)
plural pigeons · alternative archaic pidgeon
- countableOne of several birds of the family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes.
- uncountableThe meat from this bird.
- countablegovernmentA pacifist, appeaser, an isolationist, a dove.
- countableA 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 2141 more example
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 country, via Peshawar, the Khyber Pass, through the Kabul Gorge, and up to Kabul, Afghanistan, where I would meet a BBC courier and transfer the film bag.
2021, Hilary Brown, War Tourist: Memoirs of a Foreign Correspondent - AustraliacountableslanggovernmentA weak or useless person.
verbpigeon (third-person singular simple present pigeons, present participle pigeoning, simple past and past participle pigeoned)
present singular third person pigeons · participle present pigeoning · participle past pigeoned · past pigeoned · alternative archaic pidgeon
- transitiveTo deceive with a confidence game.
pigeon2
Pigeon3
proper nounPigeon (countable and uncountable, plural Pigeons)
plural Pigeons
- countableuncountableA surname.
- A number of places in the United States:
- countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Jackson Township, Spencer County, Indiana.
- countableuncountableTwo townships in Indiana, in Vanderburgh County and Warrick County.
- countableuncountableA village in Winsor Township, Huron County, Michigan.
- countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Roane County, West Virginia, named after Pigeon Run.
- countableuncountableA town in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA person who is a target or victim of a confidence game.
Origin
pigeon · noun, verb
- Latinpīpiō
- Latinpipio
- Old Frenchpyjon
- Middle Englishpygeoun
- Englishpigeon
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.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →pigeon · noun
- Englishbusiness
- Englishpigeon
From pidgin English, from a Chinese Pidgin English pronunciation of English business during trade in the Far East. See pidgin.
More words from English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans duif
- duifbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Ancient Greek περιστερά, θῦμα
- περιστερά (peristerá)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- θῦμα (thûma)victim of a confidence game
Arabic حَمَامَة
- حَمَامَة (ḥamāma)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Basque uso, urzo
- usobird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- urzobird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Bengali কবুতর
- কবুতর (kobutor)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Bulgarian гълъ́б, балама
- гълъ́б (gălắb)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- балама (balama)victim of a confidence game
Catalan colom
- colombird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Chinese Cantonese 白鴿 /白鸽
- 白鴿 /白鸽bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Chinese Mandarin 鴿子 /鸽子
- 鴿子 /鸽子 (gēzi)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Czech holub
- holubbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Danish due
- duebird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Dutch duif, doffer
- duifbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- dofferbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- mannetjesduifbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- duivinbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- vrouwtjesduifbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- duifjebird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Esperanto kolombo
- kolombobird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Estonian tuvi
- tuvibird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Finnish kyyhky, kyyhkynen
- kyyhkybird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- kyyhkynenbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- uhrivictim of a confidence game
- höynäytettävävictim of a confidence game
French pigeon, pigeon
- pigeonbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- pigeonvictim of a confidence game
German Taube, Tauber
- Taubebird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- Tauberbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- Täuberbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- Tauberichbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- Täuberichbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- Täubinbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- Täubchenbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- Täubleinbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- Kolumbidebird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- Taubenvogelbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Greek περιστέρι, θύμα
- περιστέρι (peristéri)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- θύμα (thýma)victim of a confidence game
- κορόιδο (koróido)victim of a confidence game
Hawaiian nūnū
- nūnūbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Hebrew יוֹנָה
- יוֹנָה (yoná)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Hindi कबूतर, कपोत
- कबूतर (kabūtar)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- कपोत (kapot)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- परेवा (parevā)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Hungarian galamb, balek
- galambbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- balekvictim of a confidence game
- palimadárvictim of a confidence game
Icelandic dúfa
- dúfabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Indonesian merpati, burung merpati
- merpatibird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- burung merpatibird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- darabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- burung darabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Irish colm, colmán
- colmbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- colmánbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- colúrbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Italian piccione, picciona
- piccionebird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- piccionabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- colombobird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- colombabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Japanese 鳩
- 鳩 (hato)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Korean 비둘기, 구구
- 비둘기 (bidulgi)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- 구구 (gugu)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Latin columbus, columba
- columbusbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- columbabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- columbulusbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- columbulabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Latvian balodis
- balodisbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Lithuanian karvelis, balandis
- karvelisbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- balandisbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Malay merpati
- merpatibird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Māori kūkū, kererū
- kūkūbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- kererūbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- kūkupabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Norwegian Bokmål due, hanndue
- duebird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- hannduebird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- duesteggbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- hunnduebird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Persian کبوتر
- کبوتر (kabutar)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Polish gołąb
- gołąbbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Portuguese pombo, pomba
- pombobird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- pombabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Punjabi ਕਬੂਤਰ
- ਕਬੂਤਰ (kabūtar)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Romanian porumbel, porumbă
- porumbelbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- porumbăbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Russian го́лубь, голу́бка
- го́лубь (gólubʹ)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- голу́бка (golúbka)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- лох (lox)victim of a confidence game
Scottish Gaelic calman
- calmanbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Slovak holub
- holubbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Spanish paloma, palomo
- palomabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- palomobird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- urpilabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- urpillabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- cuculíbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- torcacitabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- ulinchabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- urlinchabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- untucurubird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- tórtolabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- tórtolobird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- cuncunabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Swahili hua, njiwa
- huabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
- njiwabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Swedish duva
- duvabird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Tagalog kalapati
- kalapatibird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Tamil புறா
- புறா (puṟā)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Thai พิราบ
- พิราบ (pí-râap)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Turkish güvercin
- güvercinbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Ukrainian го́луб
- го́луб (hólub)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Urdu کبوتر
- کبوتر (kabutar)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Vietnamese bồ câu
- bồ câubird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Welsh colomen
- colomenbird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Yiddish טויב
- טויב (toyb)bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — see also dove
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with pigeon
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Cite this entry
APA
pigeon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pigeon
MLA
“pigeon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pigeon. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pigeon,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pigeon.
Source: pigeon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.