egret

English

Three great egrets, Ardea alba.

Etymology

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

IPA^(key): /ˈi.ɡɹɪt/
Audio (Berkshire, UK) (file)
Rhymes: -iɡɹɪt

Noun

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.
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

cattle egret
common egret
great egret
great white egret
intermediate egret
large egret
little egret
median egret
snowy egret
western cattle egret
yellow-billed egret

Related terms

aigrette

Translations

Any of various wading birds of the genera Egretta or Ardea

Arabic: أَبُو قِرْدَان‎ m (ʾabū qirdān)
Egyptian Arabic: أبو قردان‎ m (ʾabō ʾerdān)
Assamese: বগলী (bogoli), বগ (bog)
Bulgarian: бя́ла ча́пла f (bjála čápla)
Catalan: agró m (Egretta alba), martinet m (Egretta garzetta)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 白鷺／白鹭 (zh) (báilù)
Min Nan: 白鹭鸶 ([[peh^8-loo^7-si¹]])
Czech: volavka (cs) f
Dutch: reiger (nl) m
Esperanto: egreto
Finnish: jalohaikara (fi)
French: aigrette (fr) f
Galician: garzota f, garza (gl) f
German: Reiher (de) m
Greek: τσικνιάς (el) m (tsikniás), χουλιάρι (el) n (chouliári)
Hungarian: kócsag (hu)
Irish: éigrit f
Italian: garzetta (it), airone guardabuoi (it)
Japanese: 白鷺 (ja) (しらさぎ, shirasagi), シラサギ (ja) (shirasagi)
Javanese: kuntul (jv)
Korean: 왜가리 (waegari), 해오라기 (ko) (hae'oragi), 백로(白鷺) (ko) (baengno)
Malay: bangau
Malayalam: വെള്ളരിക്കൊക്ക് (veḷḷarikkokkŭ), കൊക്ക് (ml) (kokkŭ)
Navajo: toohjįʼ ndiigaii
Polish: czapla (pl) f
Portuguese: garça (pt) f
Rohingya: 𐴁𐴡𐴒𐴝‎ (boga)
Romanian: egretă (ro) f, stârc alb m
Russian: бе́лая ца́пля f (bélaja cáplja), ца́пля (ru) f (cáplja)
Spanish: garza (es) f (Ardea), garceta (es) f (Egretta)
Vietnamese: cò (vi)
Welsh: crëyr m, aderyn y bwn m, adar y bwn m pl
Wolof: xodd gi

Anagrams

Geter, greet, reget