Other forms: capons
A capon is a cockerel fattened for the table. Roast capon, a capon at Christmas, fatten a capon.
It is castrated young, which makes the bird grow larger and the meat far more tender, and it was the festive roast before the turkey arrived from America. The practice is now banned in Britain and several other countries.
1nouncaponA cockerel fattened for the table.
“For the Christmas feast, the cook roasted a fat capon stuffed with chestnuts.”
capon is a bird.
Latin capo names the bird, reaching English through Norman French.
Vulgar Latin
*cappō
Latin
capo
fro-nor
capon
Old English
capūn
Middle English
capoun
English, today
capon
Middle English capoun, from Old English capūn, from fro-nor capon (Old French chapon), from Latin capo (Vulgar Latin cappō).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire