noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Any of various large, long-legged wading birds of the genus Platalea, in the ibis family Threskiornithidae, that have a large, flat, spatulate bill.
2. 2
   wading birds having a long flat bill with a tip like a spoon wordnet
3. 3
   A species of fish, Polyodon spathula, native to the river basins of Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri, or its extinct close relatives. US

Synonyms

All synonyms

american paddlefishduckbill catmagpiepaddlefishpaddlefish

Etymology

From spoon + bill, owing to the shape of the animal's beak.

Related phrases

African spoonbillEurasian spoonbillblack-faced spoonbillroseate spoonbillroyal spoonbillyellow-billed spoonbillpolyodon spathula

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.