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eagle

EE-guhl · noun

LatinOld FrenchAnglo-NormanMiddle EnglishEnglish

Origin

Eagle comes from Middle English egle, borrowed from Anglo-Norman egle, from Old French aigle, ultimately from Latin aquila.

Journey

As this French-derived word settled into English, it pushed aside the native Middle English word for the same bird, ern (from Old English earn), which survives today only as the rare word 'erne.'

Related words

It's related to 'erne,' the older native English word for the eagle that this borrowed term eventually displaced.

More words

From Anglo-Norman

Nearby, A–Z

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