prettygoodword | hippogriff

hippogriff or hippogryph (HIP-uh-grif) - n., a fabulous creature with the head, wings, and claws of an eagle and the body and hindquarters of a horse.

Supposed to be the offspring of a griffin and a mare, which somehow bred the lion traits out. IDEK. First mentioned by Virgil in the Eclogues, but it got its big break in popular culture in Orlando Furioso. Coined in Latin from Greek root hippos, horse + grȳphus, griffin, itself from Greek grūps, from whence it passed to Italian ippogrifo, then French hippogriffe, then to English.