tercel

[ tur-suhl ]

nounFalconry.

the male of a hawk, especially of a gyrfalcon or peregrine.

Origin of tercel

1350–1400; Middle English <Middle French terçuel<Vulgar Latin *tertiolus, equivalent to Latin terti(us) third + -olus-ole¹; probably so called because the male is about one third smaller than the female

Also terce·let [turs-lit], /ˈtɜrs lɪt/, tiercel.

Words Nearby tercel

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use tercel in a sentence

The only difference being, that the victim then was a tercel gentle, and now it would be a white dove.
Robin Tremayne | Emily Sarah Holt
By the falcon is always understood the female, as distinguished from the tercel, or male, of the peregrine or goshawk.
The Ornithology of Shakespeare | James Edmund Harting
The latter was probably called the tercel, or tiercel, from being about a third smaller than the falcon.
The Ornithology of Shakespeare | James Edmund Harting
Shakespeare tells us to choose "a falcon or tercel for flying at the brook, and a hawk for the bush."
A Cotswold Village | J. Arthur Gibbs
These he fastened firmly together, and set them securely within that window, by which the tercel would come to his lady.
French Mediaeval Romances from the Lays of Marie de France | Marie de France

British Dictionary definitions for tercel

tercel

tiercel

/ (ˈtɜːsəl) /

noun

a male falcon or hawk, esp as used in falconry

Origin of tercel

C14: from Old French, from Vulgar Latin tertiolus (unattested), from Latin tertius third, referring to the tradition that only one egg in three hatched a male chick

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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