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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

pelican.

Any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae, having a long bill with a distendable pouch.

7 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈpɛl.ɪ.kən/UK, US/ˈpɛl.ə.kən/UK, US
  1. Any of various seabirds of the family Pelecanidae, having a long bill with a distendable pouch.

  2. A native or resident of the American state of Louisiana.

  3. A retort or still having a curved tube or tubes leading back from the head to the body for continuous condensation and redistillation.

    obsolete
  4. A set of forceps used to force overcrowded teeth apart.

  5. A waterbomber.

    Canada · slang
  6. An ageing prostitute.

    slang
Where this word comes from

From Middle English pellican, pellicane, from Old English pellican (“pelican”), from Latin pelecānus, from Ancient Greek πελεκάν (pelekán), πέλεκυς (pélekus, “hatchet”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.