hippogriff

American  

[hip-uh-grif] / ˈhɪp əˌgrɪf /

Or hippogryph

noun

1. a fabulous creature resembling a griffin but having the body and hind parts of a horse.

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hippogriff British  

/ ˈhɪpəʊˌɡrɪf /

noun

1. a monster of Greek mythology with a griffin's head, wings, and claws and a horse's body

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Etymology

Origin of hippogriff

1645–55; earlier hippogryph, Latinized < Italian ippogrifo. See hippo-, griffin ¹

Example Sentences

Still, if you don’t know a horcrux from a hippogriff, feel free to move along — “Beyond the Wand” should only be assigned reading for Hogwarts completists.

From Washington Post • Oct. 15, 2022

In our hippogriff, the muscles of the back drive the upstroke, and the muscles of the chest power the downstroke, just as in living bats and long-extinct pterosaurs.

From Scientific American • Apr. 9, 2021

We reimagined the classic hippogriff as a blend of horse and pterosaur.

From Scientific American • Apr. 9, 2021

In “Cursed Child,” the key instrument is a Time-Turner, similar to the one Hermione used in “The Prisoner of Azkaban” to squeeze extra classes into her schedule and to save Hagrid’s imperiled hippogriff Buckbeak.

From New York Times • Aug. 1, 2016

Harry stepped forward and bowed low to the hippogriff without breaking eye contact or blinking.

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling