# heron

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈhɛɹən/ · frequency rank #25,783

## Definitions
1. Any long-legged, long-necked wading bird of the family Ardeidae.

## Etymology
From Middle English heron, heroun, heiron, from Anglo-Norman heiron, from Medieval Latin hairō, from Frankish and Proto-West Germanic *hraigrō, from Proto-Germanic *haigrô (compare Swedish häger and Danish hejre), dissimilation of *hraigrô (compare Old English hrāgra, Dutch reiger, German Reiher), from imitative Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreik-, *(s)kreig- (“to screech, creak”) (compare Welsh crëyr (“heron”), Ancient Greek κρίζω (krízō, “to creak, screech”). Compare also egret from the same Germanic etymon.

## Easily confused with
- **hon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heron-vs-hon)
- **horn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heron-vs-horn)
- **hers** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heron-vs-hers)
- **Herr** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heron-vs-herr)
- **hoon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heron-vs-hoon)
- **hewn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heron-vs-hewn)
- **Huron** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heron-vs-huron)
- **hertz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heron-vs-hertz)
- **Horan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heron-vs-horan)
- **Horton** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heron-vs-horton)
- **Herzog** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heron-vs-herzog)
- **Heston** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/heron-vs-heston)
- **her** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/her-vs-heron)
- **hen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hen-vs-heron)
- **here** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/here-vs-heron)
- **hero** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hero-vs-heron)
- **herb** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/herb-vs-heron)
- **herd** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/herd-vs-heron)
- **Hera** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hera-vs-heron)
- **Hein** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/hein-vs-heron)

## Common misspellings (7)
`ehron`, `heorn`, `herno`, `heronn`, `herron`, `hheron`, `hreon`

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