Heronshaw

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for a young heron, the long-legged wading bird that is still in its immature stage
2. A young wading bird of the heron family, especially one that has not yet reached full adult plumage
3. The immature offspring of a heron, a long-legged fishing bird found near rivers, lakes and marshes

Etymology: "Heronshaw" is an old English word for a young heron, and it reached English through a chain of French borrowings. It appears as a variant of "heronsew", which came into Middle English from the Old French "haironcel", a diminutive of "heiron", the French word for heron. The French suffix "-el" marked a small or young thing, so the word literally meant something like "little heron". The spelling "heronshaw" shows how the French ending was reshaped by English speakers. Over the centuries the "-sew" ending in "heronsew" shifted in pronunciation and spelling toward "-shaw", a form that fits the sounds English speakers were already used to, while the core meaning of a young heron stayed the same.