Pigeons and Doves Are the Same Birds
A pigeon is a bird of the family Columbidae. Dove and pigeon name the same family, and the split is purely linguistic.
A pigeon is a bird of the family Columbidae. There is no biological difference between a pigeon and a dove: the words are simply Norman French and Old English names for the same birds, and English kept both. The bird released at ceremonies as a white dove is usually a white racing pigeon.
- A bird of the Columbidae. *A feral pigeon.*
- A dupe (informal). *An easy pigeon.*
- Not my pigeon — not my concern. *That is not my pigeon.*
- Stool pigeon — an informer. *A police stool pigeon.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | pigeon | A racing pigeon. |
| Plural | pigeons | Feral pigeons. |
| Related | dove | A white dove. |
| Family | Columbidae | The family Columbidae. |
| Compound | pigeonhole | A pigeonhole desk. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Dove and pigeon mean the same birds.Different languages, same family.
- To pigeonhole someone is to categorise them.From compartmented desks.
- Pigeons can recognise individual human faces.Demonstrated experimentally.
Pigeon facts
- Crop milk — both parents feed young on a secretion, unusual among birds
- Navigation — homing pigeons use magnetic, solar and olfactory cues
- War service — pigeons carried messages in both world wars and received medals
- Passenger pigeon — once the most numerous bird in North America, extinct by 1914
- Face recognition — pigeons can be trained to distinguish individual people
From Old French *pijon*, a young bird, from Late Latin *pipionem*, a chirping bird. *Dove* comes from Old English.
What is the difference between a pigeon and a dove?
None biologically. The words come from different languages, and English uses dove for smaller or whiter birds by convention only.
Where does *pigeonhole* come from?
From the compartments in a dovecote, then the small compartments in a writing desk, then the sense of putting someone in a fixed category.