A bantam is any small variety of fowl, usually of

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domestication, domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey junglefowl, grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster ...

or duck. Most large chicken breeds and several breeds of duck have a bantam counterpart, which is much smaller than the standard-sized fowl, but otherwise similar in most or all respects. A

true bantam This is a list of the true bantam breeds of chicken, breeds which are naturally small and do not have a corresponding "full-size" version. * Barbu d'Anvers (Antwerpse Baardkriel) * Barbu d'Everberg (Everbergse Baardkriel) * Barbu d'Uccle (Ukkel ...

chicken is naturally small and has no large counterpart.

Etymology

The word ''bantam'' derives from the name of the seaport city of Bantam in western

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. European sailors restocking on live fowl for sea journeys found the small native breeds of chicken in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

to be useful, and any such small poultry came to be known as a ''bantam''.

References

* * {{Authority control Poultry Birds of Europe

Etymology

See also

References