gyrfalcon

UK/ˈdʒɜːfɔːlkən/US/ˈd͡ʒɝˌfælkən/

nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: gyrfalcons

A gyrfalcon is the largest of the falcons, from the far north. A white gyrfalcon.

White ones from Greenland were worth a fortune and were sent as diplomatic gifts. A gyrfalcon hunts by running its prey down in level flight rather than stooping from above.

Definitions of gyrfalcon

1noungyrfalconThe largest of the falcons, from the far north.C2
“A gyrfalcon was once a gift fit for a king.”

gyrfalcon is a bird.

Where it comes from

Old French gerfaucon, whose first element is probably Old High German gir, a vulture.

Old High German
gīr — vulture
Old French
gerfaucon
English, today
gyrfalcon

From Old French gerfaucon (modern French gerfaut), with the first element probably from Old High German gīr (“vulture”) (whence the German Geier).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

gyrfalcon in the wild

The gyrfalcon is the largest of the falcon species.
Gyrfalcon (disambiguation)
The gyrfalcon ( or ) (Falco rusticolus), also abbreviated as gyr, is a bird of prey and the largest species in the falcon family, Falconidae.
Gyrfalcon
A high-latitude species, the gyrfalcon breeds on the Arctic coasts and tundra, the islands of northern North America and Siberia, where it is mainly a resident species.
Gyrfalcon
The park is home to brown bears, wolverines, and lynx, as well as the snowy owl, gyrfalcon, and reindeer (with Sami owners).
Rohkunborri National Park

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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