a city in W Georgia.
a male given name.
1300–50; Middle English griffoun < Middle French grifon < Latin grȳphus < Greek grȳp- (stem of grȳ́ps ) “curled, curved, having a hooked nose”
First recorded in 1785–95; origin uncertain
If your little brother wants a pet griffin, you should probably try to talk him out of it. A griffin is a flying, eagle-headed lion with sharp talons. (Luckily for you, griffins aren't real.) The mythical griffin — also spelled gryphon or griffon — dates as far back as 3000 BCE. Some griffins have the front talons of an eagle, like the griffins that appear on shields or coats-of-arms — they were often used this way, since the combination of lion and eagle was seen as being especially brave and strong. Griffins appear in literature ranging from Rumi's ancient Persian poetry to the Harry Potter books. The word's Greek root is gryps, "curved."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
On the left arm, the mythical griffin creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle appears to be fighting with a stag.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2025
Hart said the debate over the griffin missed the bigger picture.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 17, 2021
For every lion there’s a griffin — a lion’s body fused with an eagle’s head, wings and sometimes talons — and for every pelican, a fire-breathing dragon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2019
You can’t have a lot of body horror in a kid’s movie, but you can have a topiary griffin who torrentially evacuates dead leaves across the backyard in a beautiful, disgusting arc.
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2018
He looked at her: the girl and her griffin.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Ruby Griffin is the family’s most seasoned tennis player.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
The previous record for a fossil auction was "Apex" the Stegosaurus, bought for $44.6 million in 2024 by hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
Apex, the Stegosaurus, was auctioned to Kenneth Griffin, founder and CEO of the hedge fund Citadel.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Donors including Griffin helped fund a salary that paid Pochettino over $5 million in his first seven months on the job, according to the federation’s most recent tax filing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Vacancies were rare; a Griffin address was a great boon to a business’s reputation.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
