The spoonbill (platea) is found in some medieval encyclopedias. It is a bird that steals fish from other sea birds by biting their heads until they let go of the fish. They eat whole seashells, then separate the meat from the shell by the heat of their stomach, vomit out the shells, then eat the meat. Pliny the Elder calls it "shoveller-duck", probably from its shovel-like beak.

In modern taxonomy, Platalea is the genus name of the spoonbill. The name is Latin for "spoonbill" and is derived from the Ancient Greek platea meaning "broad way", referring to the distinctive shape of the bill.