harpy

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɑː(r)pi

Etymology

French harpie, Latin harpyia, from Ancient Greek Αρπυια "to snatch, to seize". Compare rapacious.

Noun

harpy (plural harpies)

1. A fabulous winged monster, ravenous and filthy, having the face of a woman and the body of a vulture.
   • Milton

     Both table and provisions vanished quite,
     With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard.

2. A shrewish woman.

   • 1927, Edgar Rice Burrows, The Outlaw of Torn^[1], edition HTML, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008:

     But her most subtle wiles proved ineffectual in ridding her, even for a moment, of her harpy jailer […]

3. One who is rapacious or ravenous; an extortioner.
   • Goldsmith

     The harpies about all pocket the pool.

4. The European moor buzzard or marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus).
5. A large and powerful double-crested, short-winged American eagle (Thrasaetus harpyia).

Derived terms

• harpy bat
• harpy fly

Translations

fabulous winged monster with the face of a woman

• Asturian: harpía (ast) f
• Catalan: harpia (ca) f
• Finnish: harpyija (fi)
• French: harpie (fr) f
• Galician: harpía (gl) f

• German: Harpyie (de) f
• Greek: άρπυια (el) (árpiia) f
• Portuguese: harpia (pt) f
• Russian: гарпия (ru) (gárpija) f
• Spanish: arpía (es) f, harpía (es) f

An obnoxious, shrewish woman

• Asturian: harpía (ast) f
• Catalan: harpia (ca) f
• Finnish: harppu (fi)
• French: harpie (fr) f, chipie (fr) f, rosse (fr) f
• Galician: harpía (gl) f

• German: Drachen (de) m
• Portuguese: harpia (pt) f
• Scottish Gaelic: badhbh f, galla f
• Spanish: arpía (es) f

See also

• harridan