Other forms: hares
A hare is a long-eared animal like a large fast rabbit. A brown hare, mad as a March hare, hares in the field.
It is not a rabbit: hares are bigger, live above ground and are born with fur and open eyes, where rabbits burrow and are born blind. Mad as a March hare comes from their spring boxing. To hare off is to run away fast.
1nounhareA long-eared animal like a large fast rabbit.
“A brown hare raced across the field, faster than the dog could follow.”
hare is an animal.
Old English hara names the animal, from a Germanic root, probably from a colour word meaning grey.
Proto-Indo-European
*ḱeh₂s-
Proto-Germanic
*hesô
Proto-West Germanic
*hasō
Old English
hara — hare
Middle English
hare
English, today
hare
Built from
From Middle English hare, from Old English hara (“hare”), from Proto-West Germanic hasō, from Proto-Germanic hesô, from Proto-Indo-European ḱeh₂s-; possibly related to or influenced by haswaz (“grey”). 2 See also West Frisian hazze, Dutch haas, German Hase, Norwegian - and Swedish hare, Icelandic heri), Old English hasu, Middle High German heswe (“pale, dull”); also Welsh cannu (“to whiten”), ceinach (“hare”), Latin cānus (“white”), cascus (“old”), prg sasnis (“hare”), ps سوی (“hare”) and Sanskrit शश (“hare”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA