A female goose or a goose in general, particularly in dialect or archaic English usage.
From Old English 'gos' and related Germanic languages where similar words mean goose. The plural 'geese' and various singular forms like 'gansa' reflect the irregular noun patterns found in Germanic languages.
The word 'goose' has some of the weirdest plural forms in English—'geese,' 'gansa,' 'gesse'—because it's one of the oldest words we inherited from ancient Germanic tribes!
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