roulroul

R1O1U1L1R1O1U1L1

noun

A gamebird in the pheasant family, the crested partridge (Rollulus rouloul).

Scrabble 8

Meanings

nounroulroul (plural roulrouls)

plural roulrouls · alternative roul roul · alternative roul-roul

  1. A gamebird in the pheasant family, the crested partridge (Rollulus rouloul).

Origin

From the misspelling "roulroul" in George Robert Gray's 1844 publication List of the Specimens of Birds in the Collection of the British Museum, from a misinterpretation of "Le Rouloul de Malacca" as an instance of reduplication in Giovanni Antonio Scopoli's Deliciae florae et faunae Insubricae, seu novae, aut minus cognitae species plantarum et animalium quas in Insubria Austriaca, tam spontaneas quam exoticas vidit, descripsit, from "Rouloul de Malacca" (plate 100) and its description (pages 174 and 175) in Pierre Sonnerat's 1872 Voyage aux Indes Orientales et a la Chine, fait par ordre du roi, depuis 1774 jusqu'en 1781, from the Malayic onomatopoeic rendition of one of the bird's calls.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

roulroul. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/roulroul

MLA

“roulroul.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/roulroul. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “roulroul,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/roulroul.

Source: roulroul on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.