Etymology

dragon

drag·on
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Today it means: In European mythologies, a gigantic beast, typically reptilian with leathery bat-like wings, lion-like claws, scaly skin and a lizard-like body, often a monster with fiery breath. Full definition →

Middle English dragoun ← Old French dragon ← Latin dracō
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dragon · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*derḱ-
  2. Proto-Hellenic*dérkomai
  3. Ancient Greekδέρκομαι (dérkomai)
  4. Ancient Greekδράκων (drákōn)
  5. Latindracō
  6. Old Frenchdragon
  7. Middle Englishdragoun
  8. English todaydragon

From Middle English dragoun, borrowed from Old French dragon, from Latin dracō(n), from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “a serpent of huge size, a python, a dragon”), probably from δέρκομαι (dérkomai, “to see clearly”). Displaced Old English wyrm, whence modern worm. Mostly displaced Old English draca (whence modern drake)—from the same Latin source, as are Draco, Dracon, dracone, and dragoon.

dragon · noun2

Alteration from drag queen.

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekδράκων all →

drakedraconiandrac

Old Englishwyrm all →

wyrmWormley

Old Englishdraca all →

drakeDrakeley

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.