Word.ws English Dictionary

gryphon

gryphon is the alternative form of griffin.

Meaning of griffin

Noun

griffin (plural griffins)

  1. A mythical creature with the body of a lion and head and wings of an eagle.
  2. A griffon vulture, a large vulture (Gyps fulvus) found in the mountainous parts of Southern Europe, North Africa, and Asia Minor, supposed to be the "eagle" of the Bible.
  3. An English variety of apple.
  4. (India, dated) A person who has just arrived from Europe.
    • Tables were laid out in the palace, profusely covered with wines and refreshments, in the European style; old hands and griffins, fair sex and civilians, seemed all determined to enjoy themselves[…]1842, The Asiatic journal and monthly register, volume 38, page 40
  5. A cadet newly arrived in British India: half English, half Indian.
  6. A watchful guardian, especially a duenna in charge of a young woman.

See all 19 meanings of griffin

Forms of gryphon

pluralgryphons

Questions about gryphon

What is gryphon the alternative form of?
Gryphon is the alternative form of griffin.

Words near gryphon in the dictionary

  1. gryphaeas
  2. gryphaeid
  3. gryphaeids
  4. gryphite
  5. gryphites
  6. gryphon
  7. gryphons
  8. gryphosis
  9. gryphs
  10. gryping
  11. grypoceratid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gryphon (page history and authors); griffin (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-gryphon.wav.

Cite this entry: “gryphon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gryphon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.