Other forms: partridges
A partridge is a round brown game bird of open fields. A brace of partridges, shoot partridge, a covey of partridge.
The grey one is native to Britain and has declined sharply with modern farming, while the red-legged partridge was introduced from France and is now commoner. The bird in the carol sits in a pear tree, which is probably a mishearing of the French for partridge.
1nounpartridgeA round brown game bird of open fields.
“A partridge flew up from the long grass as we walked across the field.”
partridge is a bird.
Old French perdriz comes from Latin perdix, from Greek perdix, the name of the bird.
Ancient Greek
πέρδιξ — partridge
Latin
perdīx — partridge
Old French
perdriz
Middle English
partrich
English, today
partridge
Built from
From Middle English partrich, partriche, pertriche, perdriz, from Old French perdriz, partriz, from Latin perdīx (“partridge”), from Ancient Greek πέρδιξ (“partridge”), probably from πέρδομαι (“to fart”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA