erne

noun

\ ˈərn

How to pronounce erne (audio)

How to pronounce erne (audio)

\

Definition of erne

: eagle especially : a long-winged sea eagle (Haliäetus albicilla) with a short white wedge-shaped tail

Did You Know?

What do ernes, crows, finches, wrens, owls, and sparrows have in common (besides feathers and beaks and other avian traits)? Wing your way through one thousand years of ornithological and etymological history, and you will alight on an Old English lexicon wherein these birds had basically the same names as they have now. Their names were spelled a little differently back then: "earn," "crāwe," "finc," "wrenna," "Ūle," and "spearwa." All those avian names are also birds of a feather in that their ancestors are akin to Old High German words: arn, "krāwa," "fincho," "rentilo," "uwila," and "sparo," respectively.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about erne

Listen to Our Podcast about erne

Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP

Dictionary Entries near erne

Statistics for erne

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for erne

The first known use of erne was before the 12th century

See more words from the same century

WORD OF THE DAY

gnomic

characterized by aphorism

Test Your Vocabulary

Farm Idioms Quiz

What does 'poke' refer to in the expression 'pig in a poke'?

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

TAKE THE QUIZ

Dictionary Devil

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ