English Help Online's Blog

I don’t know about other languages, but in Korean and Japanese there is only one word for both a dove and a pigeon. Therefore, Korean and Japanese people often get confused about them. I would like to explain the difference in my blog today.

A dove is the beautiful white bird that is the symbol of peace. A pigeon, on the other hand, is the bluish grey bird which is usually found in parks and eats anything it can find. Most people like doves, but hate pigeons. Let me give you some example sentences using these two words:

I want to put a dove on my logo because it’s the symbol of peace, and I think people will like that.

I saw a dove flying outside my window this morning. It was so beautiful!

There are so many pigeons outside my office building. I hate having to walk through them.

I saw a bunch of pigeons eating some garbage the other day. They’re so disgusting!

From what I understand, these two birds are from the same family and very closely related. I think the only major difference between them is their coloring.

I’m sorry if I’ve offended any pigeon lovers out there, but I think the majority of people don’t like them.