Wing Country

a worddrumette

also: drum · drums · wing drumette · first segment wing portion

A counter says 'drums'. A grader says 'first segment wing portion'.

drumettedrum (the drumstick it resembles) + -ette, the French diminutive that English borrowed for small versions of things

Upper of the three wing segments, and the meatiest. One bone, meat bunched at one end, skin all round: it eats like a small drumstick, which is where the name comes from. White meat, same as the breast. Two per bird.

Root. drum (the drumstick it resembles) + -ette, the French diminutive that English borrowed for small versions of things
The National Chicken Council writes it as the trade does: "The wing is usually split into two parts or portions, known as the 'drumette' and the mid-section or 'flat'". USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service labels the same piece 'Grade A First Segment Wing Portion (Wing Drumette)' in its grading photographs — the parenthesis is the government conceding the kitchen's word. Inference — the -ette says small drumstick, which is what a diner sees, not what an anatomist sees: the drumette is the humerus, the arm bone, not a leg at all. Cited · web-ncc-wings-hot-topic

How it is done Tradition

Hold it by the narrow end and eat down, or stand it up and push the meat off the bone in one piece — bar tables argue about which. Sauce pools in the cup at the thick end, so a drumette carries more of whatever it was tossed in than a flat does.

Today Cited · web-openfoodfacts-party-wings

Grocery party-wing packs print drumette and flat on the label together; Sanderson Farms sells it as 'Chicken Party Wings Flats & Drummettes', with the second m that the trade spelling keeps dropping.

The particulars

part of speechnoun
regionThe United States
confidencehigh · needs verification · updated 2026-09-16

Who it runs with

wordswingOne of the two pieces a menu means when it says wing.and of this page it says: The upper piece, the one that looks like a small drumstick.wordsflatThe other piece off the same joint, and the one people compare it against.and of this page it says: The other half of the split, and the side of the argument this one is against.wordswing tipCut from the far end of the same wing, and usually not sold.the kitchenthe wing cutThe knife that makes it: through the joint between humerus and radius.and of this page it says: The upper piece this cut frees, white meat on one bone.storiesThe flat and the drumThe argument this word is one half of.and of this page it says: The humerus end, and the piece 45% of surveyed wing-eaters say they want.wordsparty wingWhat a grocery calls it when it is bagged with the flats.and of this page it says: Half of what is in the bag.organizationsNational Chicken CouncilWrites 'drumette' into its own trade wording, which is how the word travels.

Who talks about it

organizations · on this pageU.S. Poultry & Egg AssociationOne of the two pieces a processing line turns a wing into before a bar ever sees it.words · on this pageall flatsThe piece the order leaves behind, which is somebody else's problem.

Where we got it

Where it came from: Cited a source we name · Harvested pulled from an open dataset · Tradition what the tradition says, hedged · Inference this project's reasoning · Field somebody stood there. This record as JSON.

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