Meanings
nounspoonbill (plural spoonbills)
plural spoonbills
- Any of various large, long-legged wading birds of the genus Platalea, in the ibis family Threskiornithidae, that have a large, flat, spatulate bill.
- USA species of fish, Polyodon spathula, native to the river basins of Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri, or its extinct close relatives.
Synonyms: paddlefish, American paddlefish
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA species of fish, Polyodon spathula, native to the river basins of Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri, or its extinct close relatives.
Origin
From spoon + bill, owing to the shape of the animal's beak.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian лопатарка
- лопатарка (lopatarka)bird
Catalan becplaner, espàtula
- becplanerbird
- espàtulabird
Chinese Mandarin 琵鷺 /琵鹭
- 琵鷺 /琵鹭 (pílù)bird
Czech kolpík
- kolpíkbird
Danish skestork
- skestorkbird
Dutch lepelaar
- lepelaarbird
Finnish kapustahaikara
- kapustahaikarabird
French spatule
- spatulebird
German Löffler
- Löfflerbird
Hebrew כַּפָּן
- כַּפָּן (kapán)bird
Hungarian kanalasgém
- kanalasgémbird
Italian spatola
- spatolabird
Japanese 箆鷺
- 箆鷺 (herasagi)bird
Korean 저어새
- 저어새 (jeo'eosae)bird
Latin platalea
- plataleabird
Portuguese colhereiro
- colhereirobird
Punjabi ਡੋਈ ਬਗ
- ਡੋਈ ਬਗ (ḍoī bag)bird
Romanian lopătar
- lopătarbird
Russian ко́лпица
- ко́лпица (kólpica)bird
Spanish espátula
- espátulabird
Swedish skedstork
- skedstorkbird
Turkish kaşıkçı
- kaşıkçıbird
Ukrainian косар
- косар (kosar)bird
Welsh llwybig, llydanbig
- llwybigbird
- llydanbigbird
Cite this entry
APA
spoonbill. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spoonbill
MLA
“spoonbill.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spoonbill. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “spoonbill,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/spoonbill.
Source: spoonbill on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.