greylag

G2R1E1Y4L1A1G2
/ˈɡɹeɪlæɡ/

noun

A large grey European goose, Anser anser, with pink legs and dull orange beak.

RareScrabble 12

Meanings

noungreylag (plural greylags)

plural greylags · alternative graylag

  1. A large grey European goose, Anser anser, with pink legs and dull orange beak.

    Earlier, 250 more had flown to Rattray beach, nearly all pinkfeet although I saw four greylags and heard others.

    2012, Adam Watson, Ian Francis, Birds in North-East Scotland Then and Now, page 11
    2 more examples

    Since the war, migrant greylags have virtually deserted the Duddon estuary, so it is a source of great satisfaction that the WAGBI greylags have taken to roosting on the sands in mid-winter, flighting to and from the reserve.

    1967, Jeffery G. Harrison, A Wealth of Wildfowl, page 150

    Greylags used to concentrate on British estuaries, eating roots of rushes and sedges, as they do in other parts of their range.

    2010, M. Owen, “Greylag Goose”, in Peter Lack, editor, The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland, page 74

    Synonyms: greylag goose

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA large grey European goose, Anser anser, with pink legs and dull orange beak.

More synonyms by meaning

nouncommon grey wild goose of Europe; ancestor of many domestic breeds

Broader

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

From grey (“colour”) + lag (“old name for a goose, derived from the call used to move such animals along”).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

greylag. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/greylag

MLA

“greylag.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/greylag. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “greylag,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/greylag.

Source: greylag on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.