Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

birdshot

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.93 in modern English

Syllables: bird-shot
IPA

14

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

2

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Small lead or steel shot, as pieces of ammunition, used in shotgun shells.

Countable; Uncountable

noun

A rifle or pistol cartridge containing small shot instead of a single larger projectile.

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"In the first shooting, four of the teenagers were sitting on a porch and were peppered with birdshot from a shotgun fired from a passing car around 2:30 p.m., Sheriff John Rutherford said."
"“Eyes were hit by birdshot pellets and it was deliberate, they are shooting to kill,” said the Tehran doctor. A colleague added that they had removed “20 pellets” from the body of a single protester."

Etymology

From bird + shot.

Usage

Inflected Forms

birdshots (plural)

Frequently Paired Words

scattershot buckshot

Questions

What does birdshot mean?: Small lead or steel shot, as pieces of ammunition, used in shotgun shells.
Where does birdshot come from?: From bird + shot.

How to pronounce birdshot

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “birdshot”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “birdshot”.
Repeat and practice — Say “birdshot” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.