Hare
/heər/noun
A swift, long-eared mammal of the rabbit family, typically larger and with longer hind legs than a rabbit.
Did you know?*Hare* is inherited from Proto-Germanic *ehraz*, and its oldest cousins show up in words for wildness and speed across Germanic languages, not in any magical sense invented later.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*keh₂-
“to be grey, to shine; likely the source of a word for the grey-brown animal”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*hehraz
“hare; the wild long-eared animal”
Old English
OE
hara
“hare”
Middle English
ME
hare
“hare”
Modern English
English
hare
“a swift long-eared mammal of the rabbit family”