heron

Meaning

Noun

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

Origin

• From Middle English heron, heroun, heiron, from Anglo-Norman heiron, from Old Dutch *heigero (compare Middle Dutch heiger), 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- (compare Welsh crëyr ("heron"), Ancient Greek κρίζω ("to creak, screech").