Other forms: griffins
A griffin is a creature of myth with the head, wings and front claws of an eagle and the body and back legs of a lion. It guards treasure, and it appears on coats of arms across Europe.
The spelling varies — griffin, griffon, gryphon — and all three are accepted, with gryphon the most literary. In heraldry the griffin is a common charge and stands for courage and watchfulness, the two animals it is made from being the king of birds and the king of beasts. Note that a griffon is also a real breed of dog and a real vulture, so the spelling does occasionally matter.
1noungriffinA mythical creature with an eagle's head and wings and a lion's body.
“A griffin is carved over the gateway.”
griffin is a mythical creature.
Greek gryps may come from a word meaning hooked, describing the beak. The creature appears in Greek accounts of central Asia guarding gold, and it may be a traveller's report of dinosaur fossils in the Gobi, though that is a good story rather than a proven one.
Ancient Greek
γρῡ́ψ
la-cla
grȳps
Latin
grȳphus
Old French
griffon
Middle English
griffoun
English, today
griffin
From Middle English griffoun, from Old French griffon, from Latin grȳphus, from la-cla grȳps, from Ancient Greek γρῡ́ψ.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA