Murg
/mɜːrɡ/noun
A culinary term meaning chicken, especially in South Asian cuisine.
Did you know?Murg ultimately belongs to an ancient Iranian word-family for birds and animals, linking an everyday curry ingredient to some of the oldest Indo-Iranian vocabulary.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-Iranian
PII
*mṛgás
“Bird or animal; a reconstructed ancestral form”
Old Iranian
Iranian
*mṛga-
“Bird or animal”
Middle Persian
Middle Persian
murw
“Bird”
Classical Persian
Persian
murğ / morğ
“Bird, fowl, or chicken”
Medieval South Asian usage
Hindi/Urdu
murgh
“Chicken or fowl”
Modern English
English
murg
“Chicken, chiefly in culinary contexts”