Added 9 October 2026
erne
/ɜːn/ noun
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about erne at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- A sea eagle (Haliaeetus). The white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla)
- The white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla)
-
Any eagle.
the bald erne
verb
Origin
From Middle English ern, erne, earn, from Old English earn (“eagle”), from Proto-West Germanic *arnu (“eagle”), from Proto-Germanic *arnuz (“eagle”), from Proto-Germanic *arô (“eagle”) (whence also Arnold), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃érō (“large bird, eagle”). Cognate with North Frisian Aarn, iarn, jarn (“eagle”), West Frisian earn (“eagle”), Dutch arend (“eagle”), German Aar (“eagle”), Low German Arend (“eagle”), Danish, Faroese, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk ørn (“eagle”), Icelandic and Swedish örn (“eagle”), Ancient Greek ὄρνεον (órneon), ὄρνις (órnis, “bird”) (whence ornitho-), translingual -ornis, Proto-Slavic *orьlъ (“eagle”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)