# falcon

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈfɔː(l)kən/ · frequency rank #10,545

## Definitions
1. Any bird of the genus Falco, all of which are birds of prey.
2. Any bird of prey of the subfamilies Falconinae and Herpetotherinae.
3. A female such bird, a male being a tiercel.
4. A light cannon used from the 15th to the 17th century.

## Etymology
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.

## Easily confused with
- **felon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/falcon-vs-felon)
- **fallen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/falcon-vs-fallen)
- **Fulton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/falcon-vs-fulton)
- **Fallon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/falcon-vs-fallon)
- **Felton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/falcon-vs-felton)
- **fallow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/falcon-vs-fallow)
- **Falcone** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/falcon-vs-falcone)
- **falconer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/falcon-vs-falconer)
- **Falco** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/falco-vs-falcon)

## Common misspellings (9)
`aflcon`, `faclon`, `falccon`, `falcno`, `falconn`, `fallcon`, `falocn`, `ffalcon`, `flacon`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/falcon