heron

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   grey or white wading bird with long neck and long legs and (usually) long bill

   A heron stood motionless in the shallow water.

2. 2
   noun

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

   A heron stood motionless in the shallow water.

3. 3
   name

   A surname.

   A heron stood motionless in the shallow water.

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.

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