hippogriff

1 9.9

An animal from stories with an eagle's front and a horse's back

noun
/ˈhɪpəˌɡrɪf/

Literature

: hipogrifo

She had always dreamed of riding a hippogriff on a grand adventure across the enchanted forest.

Examples

The wizarding class was excited to learn how to care for a hippogriff at the magical creatures sanctuary.
It is supposed that this creature The Hippogriff known as Buckbeack is here

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
I said that Buckbeak was a good Hippogriff

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Hippogriffs, here we come!

My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)
A baby hippogriff clung to a nearby roost, terrified by the two big carnivorous birds.

Fiction book (1998)
In the story, the hippogriff soared majestically through the sky with its eagle wings.

Surface Forms

hippogriff singular

hippogriffs plural

Morphology

hippogriff = hippo + griffin (semi-transparent) = hippo + griff

The parts indicate 'hippo' + 'griff(in)', so the idea of a horse‑griffin is inferable, but 'hippo' as 'horse' is a Greek combining form (not obvious to many learners) and 'griff' is a clipped variant of 'griffin'.

Etymology

Hippogriff comes from hippo- meaning 'horse' and griffin, a mythic creature with eagle-like front parts, so a helpful way to remember it is as a creature that is part 'horse' and part bird, with the back like a horse and the front like an eagle.