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Glite Dictionary
🐥 A soft feather 🌱 Young plant shoot
plumule

plumule

9.9
A soft, fluffy feather that covers baby birds and sometimes adults
  • noun
  • /ˈpluːmjuːl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : plumón
  • Many young birds develop a plumule before their adult feathers.

Examples

  • The hatchling was covered in soft plumule instead of mature feathers.

  • Some adult birds retain bits of plumule on their bodies throughout life.

  • Scientists studied the plumule to understand how birds stay warm after hatching.

  • The baby bird's plumule is soft and fluffy.

  • The down plumule of the chick helps to keep it warm during the cold nights.

  • When the baby bird grows, its soft plumules will be replaced by stronger feathers.

  • A fluffy layer of plumules surrounds the young birds, providing insulation until they mature.

Synonyms

feather
vsplumule
403 1.0

A light flat part of a bird with a thin middle and many thin hair-like parts

is limited to the soft young bird covering rather than the full structured body part
down
vsplumule
34 4.8

Soft, fine feathers on young birds and under adult feathers

is a narrower term for young bird soft covering than the broader undercoat use
down feather
vsplumule
1 3.2

A very soft feather under a bird's outer feathers that keeps the bird warm

is used more for young bird soft covering rather than only insulating underlayers

How Downy

down
34 4.8
plumule
  • Specialized
9.9
fluff
9 1.3

Surface Forms

plumule singular
plumules plural

Etymology

Plumule comes from the Latin pluma 'feather' plus the small ending -ule, so it really means 'little feather' and is like the English word plume. That's why plumule is used for the soft, downy feathers of young birds.