gyrfalcon
/ˈd͡ʒɝˌfælkən/noun
gyrfalcon is a noun meaning “Falco rusticolus, a large bird of prey that breeds on Arctic coasts and islands of North America, Europe and Asia” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled G-Y-R-F-A-L-C-O-N, and it appears about once in every 43 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of gyrfalcon is gyrfalcons.
What does gyrfalcon mean?
noun
- 1
obsoleteAny large falcon, especially as used to fly at herons.
- 2
Falco rusticolus, a large bird of prey that breeds on Arctic coasts and islands of North America, Europe and Asia.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce gyrfalcon?
- UK /ˈdʒɜːfɔːlkən/
- US /ˈd͡ʒɝˌfælkən/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Sapaa-gyrfalcon.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of gyrfalcon
- gyrfalcons plural
- gerfalcon
- gyr falcon
- jerfalcon
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is gyrfalcon?
Gyrfalcon appears about once in every 43 million words in written English, the 201,693rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you abbreviate gyrfalcon?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of gyrfalcon: gyr.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Gyrfalcon in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Falco rusticolus:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | gerfaut |
| German | Gierfalke, Geierfalke, Gerfalke, Jagdfalke |
| Portuguese | gerifalte |
| Spanish | gerifalte, halcón gerifalte, gerifalco |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does gyrfalcon come from?
From Old French gerfaucon (modern French gerfaut), with the first element probably from Old High German gīr (“vulture”) (whence the German Geier).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).