gnoll

Meaning

Noun

• A usually evil and hyena-like humanoid creature found in various forms in fantasy literature and video games.

Origin

• According to A Brief History of Gnolls, by Paul Haynie, they were created by Lord Dunsany in "How Nuth Would Have Practiced His Art Upon the Gnoles", and the name was likely derived from a playing field of the Welsh All Blacks known as the Gnoll, probably derived from English knoll