Other forms: geese
A goose is a large honking water bird with a long neck, bigger than a duck. A wild goose, goose eggs, the goose honked.
They mate for life and defend their young hard enough that a goose will see off a fox. The V of a migrating flock saves energy for the birds behind. A wild goose chase is a hopeless pursuit. Note that the plural is geese, one of the old vowel-changing plurals, and that gander is the male.
1noungooseA large honking water bird with a long neck.
“A goose chased the children across the farmyard, honking loudly.”
goose is a bird.
Old English gos comes from a Proto-Indo-European word imitating the honk. Gander and gosling come from the same bird.
Proto-Indo-European
*ǵʰh₂éns
Middle English
gos
English, today
goose
From Middle English gos. From Middle English goos, gos, from Old English gōs, from Proto-West Germanic gans, from Proto-Germanic gans, from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰh₂éns. 2
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA