Meanings
plural harpies
- human sciencesA mythological creature generally depicted as a bird-of-prey with the head of a maiden, a face pale with hunger and long claws on her hands personifying the destructive power of storm winds.
Both table and provisions vanish'd quite, With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard.
1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC - derogatoryA shrewish woman.
But her most subtle wiles proved ineffectual in ridding her, even for a moment, of her harpy jailer[…]
1927, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Outlaw of Torn, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 20081 more example
[…] Ed Miliband has yet to come up with a definition of “the squeezed middle” that excludes anyone, but you can bet your bottom dollar he has these laptop-wielding harpies in mind.
2011 March 17, Toby Young, “Mumsnet isn't representative of the 'squeezed middle'. It's just a bunch of Guardian-reading, laptop-wielding harpies”, in The Telegraph, archived from the original on 20 Mar 2011Synonyms: battle axe, bitch, brim, brimstone, cat, cockatrice, crow, dragon
- One who is rapacious or ravenous; an extortioner.
c. 1772, Oliver Goldsmith, letter to Mrs. Bunbury The harpies about me all pocket the pool.
- Any of a number of eagle-like birds of prey of the subfamily Harpiinae, especially the species Harpia harpyja.
- The European moor buzzard or marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus).
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA shrewish woman.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna malicious woman with a fierce temper
nounany of various fruit bats of the genus Nyctimene distinguished by nostrils drawn out into diverging tubes
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekἅρπυιᾰ
- Latinharpyia
- Middle Frenchharpie
- Englishharpy
Ultimately from Middle French harpie, from Latin harpyia, from Ancient Greek ἅρπυιᾰ (hárpuiă, literally “snatcher”), from ἁρπάζω (harpázō, “to snatch, seize”). Compare rapacious. Middle English had arpie.
More words from Middle French, Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἅρπυια
- ἅρπυια (hárpuia)fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
Bulgarian ха́рпия
- ха́рпия (hárpija)fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
Catalan harpia, harpia
- harpiafabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
- harpiaobnoxious, shrewish woman
Chinese Mandarin 哈比, 鹰身女妖
- 哈比 (habǐ)fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
- 鹰身女妖 (yīngshēnnǚyāo)fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
Czech harpyje
- harpyjefabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
Danish harpy, furie
- harpyfabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
- furieobnoxious, shrewish woman
Dutch harpij, harpij
- harpijfabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
- harpijobnoxious, shrewish woman
Esperanto harpio
- harpiofabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
Finnish harpyija, harppu
- harpyijafabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
- harppuobnoxious, shrewish woman
- harpyijabird of prey of the subfamily Harpiinae
French harpie, harpie
- harpiefabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
- harpieobnoxious, shrewish woman
- chipieobnoxious, shrewish woman
- rosseobnoxious, shrewish woman
German Harpyie, Drachen
- Harpyiefabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
- Drachenobnoxious, shrewish woman
Greek άρπυια
- άρπυια (árpyia)fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
Hebrew הַרְפִּיָּה
- הַרְפִּיָּה (hárpiya)fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
Hungarian hárpia, hárpia
- hárpiafabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
- hárpiaobnoxious, shrewish woman
Irish airp
- airpfabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
Italian arpia
- arpiafabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
Japanese ハルピュイア
- ハルピュイアfabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
Korean 하르피이아
- 하르피이아 (hareupiia)fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
Latin harpyia
- harpyiafabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
Polish harpia, harpia
- harpiafabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
- harpiaobnoxious, shrewish woman
Portuguese harpia, harpia
- harpiafabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
- harpiaobnoxious, shrewish woman
- uiraçubird of prey of the subfamily Harpiinae
Romanian harpie, scorpie
- harpiefabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
- scorpieobnoxious, shrewish woman
Russian га́рпия, га́рпия
- га́рпия (gárpija)fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
- га́рпия (gárpija)obnoxious, shrewish woman
- меге́ра (megéra)obnoxious, shrewish woman
- сте́рва (stérva)obnoxious, shrewish woman
Scottish Gaelic badhbh, galla
- badhbhobnoxious, shrewish woman
- gallaobnoxious, shrewish woman
Spanish arpía, harpía
- arpíafabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
- harpíafabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
- arpíaobnoxious, shrewish woman
Swedish harpya
- harpyafabulous winged monster with the face of a woman
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with harpy
All rhymes →Cite this entry
harpy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/harpy
“harpy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/harpy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “harpy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/harpy.
Source: harpy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.