griffin
1 Americannoun
noun
noun
-
a city in W Georgia.
-
a male given name.
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
- griffinage noun
- griffinesque adjective
- griffinhood noun
- griffinish adjective
- griffinism noun
Etymology
Origin of griffin1
1300–50; Middle English griffoun < Middle French grifon < Latin grȳphus < Greek grȳp- (stem of grȳ́ps ) “curled, curved, having a hooked nose”
Origin of griffin2
First recorded in 1785–95; origin uncertain
Explanation
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."
Vocabulary lists containing griffin
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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Reading: Literature - Mythology - Introductory
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Reading: Literature - Mythology - Middle School
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Example Sentences
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
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
At first she believed it to be some kind of mythical creature, a California version of a minotaur or a griffin.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 5, 2018
History will show whether they got what they needed waiting as long as they did — 13 other cornerbacks were selected before the Seahawks took griffin.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 30, 2017
She pointed to the left Neither of the boys had read the book of Sir John de Mandeville, so they did not know that a griffin was eight times larger than a lion.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
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.
