# pheasant

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈfɛzənt/ · frequency rank #27,961

## Definitions
1. A bird of family Phasianidae, often hunted for food.
2. The meat of this bird, eaten as food.

## Etymology
From Middle English fesaunt, fesant, from Old French fesan, from Latin phāsiānus, from Ancient Greek φᾱσιανός (phāsianós), meaning “[bird] of the river Φᾶσις (Phâsis)”, from where, it was supposed, the bird spread to the west. Replaced native Old English wōrhana, a variant of mōrhana. More at moorhen.

## Easily confused with
- **pleasant** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pheasant-vs-pleasant)
- **peasant** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peasant-vs-pheasant)
- **peasants** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peasants-vs-pheasant)

## Common misspellings (12)
`hpeasant`, `pehasant`, `phaesant`, `pheaasnt`, `pheasannt`, `pheasantt`, `pheasatn`, `pheasnat`, `pheassant`, `phesaant`, `phheasant`, `ppheasant`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/pheasant