gizzard
UK[ˈɡɪz.əd]US[ˈɡɪz.ərd]
n
The muscular second stomach of a bird, used for grinding food.
n
A similar digestive organ in some invertebrates, such as insects and earthworms.
Etymology
The word 'gizzard' entered English in the 14th century from the Old French 'guiser' or 'giser', which meant 'entrails' or 'giblets'. This Old French term itself is believed to have originated from the Latin 'gigeria', the plural form referring to the cooked entrails of poultry. The Latin word is likely a borrowing from an unknown, possibly pre-Latin Mediterranean source. The semantic journey is direct, moving from a general term for cooked poultry offal to the specific, muscular stomach organ responsible for grinding food in birds.
Analysis
The word 'gizzard' is a simplex loanword from Old French. It does not contain separable, meaningful morphemes within its modern English spelling.
Examples
The bird swallows small stones that lodge in its gizzard to help pulverize seeds.
Chickens have a powerful gizzard that can grind up very tough grains.
The dissection revealed the insect's gizzard, a key part of its digestive tract.