Huloet

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for an owl, a nocturnal bird of prey with large eyes and a hooting call
2. An obsolete name for the owl, the night-hunting bird of prey known for its silent flight
3. A old-fashioned word meaning owl, referring to a nocturnal predatory bird with broad round eyes

Etymology: Middle English "houlet" (also "hulot," "owlet") was the everyday name for the owl before "owl" itself pushed it aside, so the word's history is largely the history of the bird's name in English. The form came into the language from Old French "hulotte" (a small owl), a diminutive built on the Old French base "hue" or "huve," itself probably imitative of the bird's cry, which is why the word sounds like a hoot in several European languages. The word's real life is that it was once the ordinary term, not a poetic one. Its survival in the modern language is mostly as a diminutive, "owlet," meaning a young owl, while the older "huloet" faded out. Because it entered English from French and shared ground with the native "owl," English speakers had two names for one bird for centuries before the French version lost out.