heron

Meaning

Any long-legged, long-necked wading bird of the family Ardeidae.

Synonyms

egret

crane

stork

hern

flamingo

🦩

curlew

loon

pied

sooty tern

greater frigatebird

ardea

Nycticorax nycticorax

white crane

grey

grey heron

hawk

herons

jabiru

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈhɛɹən/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: heron

Cognate with Swedish: häger

Cognate with Old English: hrāgra

Cognate with Dutch: reiger

Cognate with German: Reiher

Cognate with Welsh: crëyr

Cognate with Ancient Greek: κρίζω

In summary

From Middle English heron, heroun, heiron, from Anglo-Norman heiron, from Medieval Latin hairō, from Frankish and Proto-West Germanic *hraigrō, from Proto-Germanic *haigrô (compare Swedish häger), dissimilation of *hraigrô (compare Old English hrāgra, Dutch reiger, German Reiher), from imitative Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreik-, *(s)kreig- (“to screech, creak”) (compare Welsh crëyr (“heron”), Ancient Greek κρίζω (krízō, “to creak, screech”).