kestrel

Etymology

From Middle English castrel (“staniel, bird of prey”), from Middle French cresserelle, crecerelle (“bird of prey”), usually assumed to be from crecelle (“rattle, wooden reel”) (modern crécelle), of obscure origin.

Cognates possibly include: Medieval Latin clisterella f, French crécerelle f and cristel m, Neapolitan castariello m and crestariello m, all sharing the same meaning.

Derivation from the assumed Vulgar Latin *crepicella, *crepitacillum, a diminutive of crepitāculum, from crepitāre (“to crackle”) is difficult to explain from a morphological point of view.

Instead, possibly from a root *krek-, *krak- (“to crack, rattle, creak, emit a bird cry”), from Middle Dutch crāken (“to creak, crack”), from Old Dutch *krakōn (“to crack, creak, emit a cry”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną (“to emit a cry, shout”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerg- (“to shout”). Cognate with Old High German krahhōn (“to make a sound, crash”), Old English cracian (“to resound”), French craquer (“to emit a repeated cry, used of birds”). More at creak, crack.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɛstɹəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛstɹəl

Noun

kestrel (plural kestrels)

1. Any of various small falcons of the genus Falco that hover while hunting.
   • 1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native, book 3 chapter 6:

     When she was musing she was a kestrel, which hangs in the air by an invisible motion of its wings.

   • 1917, John Masefield, Up on the Downs:

     Up on the downs the red-eyed kestrels hover,
     Eyeing the grass.
     The field mouse flits like a shadow into cover
     As their shadows pass.

2. The common kestrel, Falco tinnunculus.

Anagrams

• Terkels, Kestler, Sterkel, kelters, skelter