hare

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun swift timid long-eared mammal larger than a rabbit having a divided upper lip and long hind legs; young born furred and with open eyes
  2. noun flesh of any of various rabbits or hares (wild or domesticated) eaten as food
  3. verb run quickly, like a hare

Etymology

From Middle English hare, from Old English hara (“hare”), from Proto-West Germanic *hasō ~ *haʀ-, from Proto-Germanic *hesô, from *haswaz (“grey”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂s-én-. Cognates See also West Frisian hazze, Dutch haas, German Hase, Norwegian and Swedish hare, Icelandic heri), Old English hasu, Middle High German heswe (“pale, dull”); also Welsh cannu (“to whiten”), ceinach (“hare”), Latin cānus (“white”), cascus (“old”), Old Prussian sasnis (“hare”), Pashto سوی (soe, “hare”) and Sanskrit शश (śaśa, “hare”).

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