Other forms: wyverns
A wyvern is a legendary two-legged winged dragon. A wyvern on the shield, the wyvern badge, a heraldic wyvern.
The legs are what distinguish it, since a heraldic dragon has four and a wyvern two. It is common in English heraldry, and the word is a form of an old word for a viper.
1nounwyvernA legendary two-legged winged dragon.
“The knight's shield was painted with a red wyvern, its wings spread wide.”
wyvern is a creature.
An alteration of Middle English wyver, a viper, from Latin vipera.
Proto-Indo-European
*gʷeyh₃-
Latin
vīpera — viper; snake, serpent
VL.
*vivra,*vibra
fro-nor
wivre
Middle English
wyver — viper
English, today
wyvern
Alteration of Middle English wyver (“viper”), from fro-nor wivre, from VL. vivra,vibra, from Latin vīpera (“viper; snake, serpent”). a doublet of weever and viper. Related to a doublet of viviparous*.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA