Etymology

falcon

F4A1L1C3O1N1

Today it means: Any bird of the genus Falco, all of which are birds of prey. Full definition →

Middle English faucoun ← Old French falcun ← Late Latin falcō
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falcon · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*pol̑-“pale”
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*falkô“falcon”
  3. Frankish · derived from*falkō“falcon, hawk”
  4. Germanic · derived from
  5. Late Latin · derived fromfalcō“falcon”
  6. Old French · derived fromfalcun
  7. Middle English · inherited fromfaucoun
  8. English todayfalcon

Inherited from Middle English faucoun, falcon, faulcon, from Old French falcun, from Late Latin falcō (“falcon”), of Germanic origin, probably via Frankish *falkō (“falcon, hawk”), from Proto-Germanic *falkô (“falcon”), from Proto-Indo-European *pol̑- (“pale”), from *pel- (“fallow”). Cognates Cognate with Old English *fealca, fealcen (“falcon”), Dutch valk (“falcon, hawk”), German Falke (“falcon, hawk”), Norwegian and Swedish falk (“falcon”), Icelandic fálki (“falcon”), French faucon (“falcon”), Italian falco (“falcon”), Spanish halcón (“falcon”), Portuguese falcão (“falcon”), Latin falco (“falcon”), Lithuanian pálšas (“pale”), Latvian bāls (“pale”), Latgalian buolgs (“pale”). More at fallow.

Falcon · proper noun2

  1. Spanish · borrowed fromFalcón
  2. English todayFalcon

* From Spanish Falcón * Calque from Amerindian languages, for the bird falcon.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.