hippogriff

American  

[hip-uh-grif] / ˈhɪp əˌgrɪf /

Or hippogryph

noun

1. a fabulous creature resembling a griffin but having the body and hind parts of a horse.

---

hippogriff British  

/ ˈhɪpəʊˌɡrɪf /

noun

1. a monster of Greek mythology with a griffin's head, wings, and claws and a horse's body

---

Etymology

Origin of hippogriff

1645–55; earlier hippogryph, Latinized < Italian ippogrifo. See hippo-, griffin ¹

Example Sentences

Still, if you don’t know a horcrux from a hippogriff, feel free to move along — “Beyond the Wand” should only be assigned reading for Hogwarts completists.

From Washington Post • Oct. 15, 2022

We reimagined the classic hippogriff as a blend of horse and pterosaur.

From Scientific American • Apr. 9, 2021

In our hippogriff, the muscles of the back drive the upstroke, and the muscles of the chest power the downstroke, just as in living bats and long-extinct pterosaurs.

From Scientific American • Apr. 9, 2021

In “Cursed Child,” the key instrument is a Time-Turner, similar to the one Hermione used in “The Prisoner of Azkaban” to squeeze extra classes into her schedule and to save Hagrid’s imperiled hippogriff Buckbeak.

From New York Times • Aug. 1, 2016

The hippogriff gave one sweep of its mighty wings and they were soaring upward again, high as the top of the West Tower.

From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling