- hippogriff (n.)
- also hippogryph, 1650s, from French hippogriffe (16c.), from Italian ippogrifo, from Greek hippos "horse" (see equine) + Italian grifo, from Late Latin gryphus "griffin" (see griffin). A creature part griffin, but with body and hind parts in the form of a horse. "[A]pparently invented, in imitation of Pegasus, by the romancers of the middle ages, and furnished to their heroes as a means of transportation through the air" [Century Dictionary].
