Why do we say "Birds of a feather flock together"?

Meaning:

Individuals with similar tastes or interests tend to congregate together.

Background:

This phrase is based on observational fact. Many bird species do indeed travel in flocks, such as starlings, blackbirds and finches. This behavior can occur for many reasons, such as predator avoidance, aerodynamics (making it easier for weaker birds to fly), and an increased ability to spot food. Generally flocks consist of a single species – “birds of a feather.”

There’s a small contingent of scholars who claim the saying was used by the ancient philosophers Plato (in his Republic, 360 BCE) and Aristotle (in Nichomachean Ethics, probably written a few years later). Those who cite these works as the origin of the phrase rely on translations, however. The most frequently cited case is from Benjamin Jowett’s 1856 version of Republic, which he renders as “Men of my age flock together; we are birds of a feather, as the old proverb says.” But, as others have pointed out, the text can be translated multiple ways, Republic had been widely studied for centuries, and the “birds of a feather” quote didn’t appear until later. Linguists feel that had Jowett’s interpretation been accurate, the saying would have shown up in other texts sooner.

More likely, the phrase originated with English physician William Turner (c. 1509-1568). An avid Protestant Reformer, he wrote a poem entitled The Huntyng and Fynding Out of the Romish Fox (1545) as a satire criticizing Roman Catholic clergy. In that text, it’s written as “Byrdes of on kynde and color flok and flye allwayes together.”

The format we’re familiar with today first appeared in print in 1599, in The Dictionarie in Spanish and English compiled by English lexicographer John Minsheu. There, he writes “Birdes of a feather will flocke togither.

The phrase has become quite popular since. It can be found in classics such as Tolstoy’s War and Peace (1867), Trollope’s The Prime Minister (1876), and Joyce’s Ulysses (1920). Most recently a variant was referenced in Billie Eilish’s 2024 hit song, Birds of a Feather (she sings, “Birds of a feather, we should stick together…”).

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