egret

Etymology

From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman egret, aigrette (“egret”), from Old Occitan aigreta, diminutive of aigron (“heron”), from Medieval Latin hairo, from Frankish *haigro (“heron”). Cognate with Old High German heigaro (“heron”), Old English hrāgra (“heron”). Doublet of aigrette. More at heron.

noun

1. Any of various wading birds of the genera Egretta or Ardea that includes herons, many of which are white or buff, and several of which develop fine plumes during the breeding season.
   Egrets picked their way through the grass, attentive and showy as fussy girlfriends at the cows' sides. 2011, Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones, Bloomsbury (2017), page 64
2. A plume or tuft of feathers worn as a part of a headdress, or anything imitating such an ornament.
3. (botany) The flying feathery or hairy crown of seeds or achenes, such as the down of the thistle.
4. (obsolete) The crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis)