mallardyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[mallard 词源字典]
mallard: [14] Etymologically, a mallard seems to be a ‘male bird’. It comes from Old French mallart, which was probably a development of an earlier *maslart, a derivative of masle ‘male’ (source of English male). It was originally used for the ‘male of the wild duck’, but now it denotes either sex of the species (Anas platyrhynchos).
=> male[mallard etymology, mallard origin, 英语词源]
mallard (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
c. 1300, "wild drake or duck," from Old French malart (12c.) or Medieval Latin mallardus, apparently from male, from Latin masculus (see male), in which case the original sense probably was not of a specific species but of any male wild duck, though the specific sense of "male of the wild duck" was not attested in English until early 14c.