Introduction. The work deals with the hunting vocabulary in the Komi language. There, as an independent microsystem, the designations used to nominate waterfowl nesting on the territory of the Komi Republic are studied. The purpose of the paper is to establish the patterns and main stages of the formation and development of the analyzed component of the hunting vocabulary from ancient times to the present day. Materials and methods. The factual material of the paper belongs to the Komi literary language. Of the dialect words, only a few examples are given that are contained in standard dictionaries. Words of both native and foreign origin are considered. When developing a research topic, the author uses such methods as descriptive, synchronous-comparative, comparative-historical and statistical, as well as techniques of semantic and structural word-formation analysis. Results of the study and their discussions. The work represents the first attempt at linguistic research of commercial waterfowl. According to the substantial feature, this lexical microsystem refers to the designations of the object of hunting. Based on the systematization of available reconstructions, a diachronic hierarchy of native vocabulary is presented, characterized by the presence of four components of ancient names: proto-Uralic, proto-Finno-Ugric, proto-Finno-Permian and proto-Permian. The types and quantitative composition of the group of foreign names, that are late borrowings, have been established. Conclusion. The formation of the Komi language hunting vocabulary related to waterfowl occurred over many millennia, starting from the proto-Uralic era. The overwhelming majority of designations of this microsystem belong to the original vocabulary fund of the Komi language. The foreign-language part in the names of waterfowl occupies an insignificant place, its penetration occurred from one external source.