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tiercel or tercel (TIR-suhl, TUR-suhl) - n., a male falcon, esp. a male peregrine or gyrfalcon.
Sometimes also applied to a male hawk as well. In use since at least the 14th century, from Anglo-Norman, from Middle French terçuel, from Vulgar Latin *tertiolus (speculative form), from Latin tertius, third. There are two theories why: one being there was a medieval belief that only one falcon egg in three hatched a male chick, the other being that a male falcon is about one-third smaller than the female.
---L.
Sometimes also applied to a male hawk as well. In use since at least the 14th century, from Anglo-Norman, from Middle French terçuel, from Vulgar Latin *tertiolus (speculative form), from Latin tertius, third. There are two theories why: one being there was a medieval belief that only one falcon egg in three hatched a male chick, the other being that a male falcon is about one-third smaller than the female.
---L.
