egret
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman egret, aigrette (“egret”), from Old Occitan aigreta, diminutive of aigron (“heron”), from Medieval Latin hairo, from Frankish *haigro (“heron”). Cognate with Old High German heigaro (“heron”), Old English hrāgra (“heron”). Doublet of aigrette. More at heron.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
egret (plural egrets)
- Any of various wading birds of the genera Egretta or Ardea that includes herons, many of which are white or buff, and several of which develop fine plumes during the breeding season.
- 2011, Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones, Bloomsbury (2017), page 64:
- Egrets picked their way through the grass, attentive and showy as fussy girlfriends at the cows' sides.
- A plume or tuft of feathers worn as a part of a headdress, or anything imitating such an ornament.
- Synonym: aigrette
- (botany) The flying feathery or hairy crown of seeds or achenes, such as the down of the thistle.
- (obsolete) The crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis)
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
Any of various wading birds of the genera Egretta or Ardea
|
See also edit
Further reading edit
Anagrams edit
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Old Occitan
- English terms derived from Medieval Latin
- English terms derived from Frankish
- English doublets
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/iɡɹɪt
- Rhymes:English/iɡɹɪt/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Botany
- English terms with obsolete senses
- en:Herons
- en:Macaques