egret

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English

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Three great egrets, Ardea alba.

Etymology

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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

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Noun

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egret (plural egrets)

  1. 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.
  2. A plume or tuft of feathers worn as a part of a headdress, or anything imitating such an ornament.
    Synonym: aigrette
  3. (botany) The flying feathery or hairy crown of seeds or achenes, such as the down of the thistle.
  4. (obsolete) The crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis)

Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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