palfrey
English
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palfrey¹
- /ˈpɔːl.fɹi/ UK
Where it comes from
From Middle English palfrey, from Anglo-Norman palefrei (“steed”), from Old French palefroi, palefreid, from Late Latin paraverēdus (“post horse, spare horse”), from Ancient Greek παρά (pará) + Latin verēdus (“post horse”), from Gaulish *werēdos (“horse”) (compare Welsh gorwydd (“horse”)), from Proto-Celtic *uɸoreidos (“horse”). Doublet of prad. Compare Dutch paard and German Pferd.
noun palfreys
- A small horse with a smooth, ambling gait, popular in the Middle Ages with nobles and women for riding (contrasted with a warhorse). Five warriors seiz'd me yestermorn, / Me, even me, a maid forlorn: / They choked my cries with force and fright, / And tied me on a palfrey white. / The palfrey was as fleet as wind, / And they rode furiously behind.
Palfrey²
Where it comes from
Metonymic occupational surname for a man responsible for the maintenance and provision of saddle-horses, from Middle English palfrey.
proper noun Palfreys · Pelfrey · Pelphrey
- A surname from Middle English.
- A suburb of Walsall, Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England (OS grid ref SP0097).
Translations
Talk about this word "palfrey." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/palfrey. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. palfrey. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/palfrey "palfrey." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/palfrey.Cite this
@misc{palfrey_2026,
title = {palfrey},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/palfrey},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
