🪶 A leftover quill 🐥 A new feather

pinfeather

1 9.6

A short stiff feather left in a bird's skin after pulling out other feathers that feels sharp

noun
/ˈpɪnˌfɛðər/

Specialized

: pluma dura

After cooking the chicken, make sure to remove any pinfeathers that may have been left behind.

Examples

When preparing the quail for roasting, I carefully plucked away any pinfeathers before seasoning.
But only by a pinfeather.

Fiction book (1998)
The chef inspected the duck and found a few pinfeathers still attached to its skin.

Synonyms

quill

vspinfeather

3 5.3

The hollow central part of a bird's feather

is a short stiff shaft left in the skin after plucking

Surface Forms

pinfeather singular

pinfeathers plural

Morphology

pinfeather = pin + feather (transparent) = pin + feather

A straightforward compound describing a short, stiff or sharp feather that resembles a pin; meaning is directly inferable.

Etymology

Pinfeather is made of pin and feather, and pin suggests a short, sharp point. So a pinfeather can mean the stiff little feather left in the skin after plucking, because it feels like a small 'pin'.