Word of the Day

: March 18, 2009

eyas

noun EYE-us

What It Means

: an unfledged bird; specifically : a nestling hawk

eyas in Context

It took about six weeks for the eyas to mature into a fully grown peregrine falcon.

Did You Know?

"Eyas" is a funny-sounding word that exists because of a mistake. In the 15th century, Middle English speakers made an incorrect assumption about the word "neias," which comes from the Anglo-French "niais" ("fresh from the nest"). "A neias" sounded like "an eias" to their ears, so the word lost that initial "n," eventually becoming "eyas." (There are other words in English that were created in this same fashion; for example, "an apron" used to be "a napron.") The change in spelling may have been suggested by other Middle English words like "ey" ("egg") and "eyry," which was a spelling of "aerie," the hawk's nest where an eyas would be found.