tiercel means A male hawk or falcon. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 74 out of 100.
Why this word is great
TIERCEL — [Noun] A male hawk or falcon, especially one used in falconry. From Middle English tercel, from Old French terçuel, from Late Latin tertiolus (diminutive of Latin tertius, meaning "third"), likely referring to the male's smaller size (about a third smaller than the female) or the belief that only one in three eggs yields a male. Unlike "hawk"—a broad, blunt term for any of several accipiters—or "falcon" (which in the precise lexicon of the mews denotes only the larger female), "tiercel" is a word of exacting gender and scaled proportion. It is the smaller, sleeker silhouette against the high sun; the quicker, more agile turn in the chase; the jesses fitting a slighter, more nervous leg. To fly a tiercel is to conduct a precise and ardent minor key against the sky—a reminder that excellence often resides not in brute dominance, but in the refined economy of the smaller instrument.
noun
- A male hawk or falcon.“In this wise, the glossy bright-eyed kestrel, whom tiercels’ training could not reclaim, shook off silver bells, and velvet hood, and broidered jesses; and fled away—to consort, henceforward for evermore, with gleds, and hawks, and such birds of prey as make their nests deep in Bohemian forests, or in the desolate places of the Wilderness that girdles the frontier of the reputable world.”