Etymology

egret

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Today it means: Any of various wading birds of the genera Egretta or Ardea that includes herons, many of which are white or buff, and several of which develop fine plumes during the breeding season. Full definition →

Old Occitan aigreta ← Medieval Latin hairo ← Frankish *haigro
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The story

  1. Frankish · derived from*haigro“heron”
  2. Medieval Latin · derived fromhairo
  3. Old Occitan · derived fromaigreta
  4. English todayegret

From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman egret, aigrette (“egret”), from Old Occitan aigreta, diminutive of aigron (“heron”), from Medieval Latin hairo, from Frankish *haigro (“heron”). Cognate with Old High German heigaro (“heron”), Old English hrāgra (“heron”). Doublet of aigrette. More at heron.

Words from the same roots

Medieval Latinhairo all →

heron

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.