heron
/ˈhɛɹən/ noun, proper noun
Forms herons
- noun Any long-legged, long-necked wading bird of the family Ardeidae.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A census-designated place in Sanders County, Montana, United States.
Synonyms
Etymology
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 and Danish hejre), 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”). Compare also egret from the same Germanic etymon.
* As an English and French surname, from heron.
* As an English surname, from Harome in Yorkshire, from Old English harum, dative plural of hær (“stone”)
* As an Irish surname, from O'Heron, from Ó hUidhrín (literally “descendant of Uidhrín”), from odhar (“swarthy”).
* As an Irish surname, from Ó hEaráin; see Haren.
* As an Irish surname, from Mac Giolla Chiaráin (literally “son of the servant of Ciarán”); see Kieran.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any wading bird of the genus Ardea and allied genera, of the family Ardeidæ. The herons have a long, sharp bill, and long legs and toes, with the claw of the middle toe toothed. The common European heron (Ardea cinerea) is remarkable for its directly ascending flight, and was formerly hunted with the larger falcons.
Etymology [OE. heiroun, heroun, heron, hern, OF. hairon, F. héron, OHG. heigir; cf. Icel. hegri, Dan. heire, Sw. häger, and also G. häher jay, jackdaw, OHG. hehara, higere, woodpecker, magpie, D. reiger heron, G. reiher, AS. hragra. Cf. Aigret, Egret.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “heron”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details