Meaning

(heraldry or fantasy) A mythical beast resembling a griffin with no wings, often classified as a male griffin..

Example Sentences

The Earl of Ormonde,—a pair of keythongs. (?) * […] * The word is certainly so written, and I have never seen it elsewhere. The figure resembles the Male Griffin, which has no wings, but rays or spikes of gold proceeding from several parts of his body, and sometimes with two long strait horns.—Vide Parker’s Glossary, under Griffin.

Ormond. Earl of Ormond. Temp. Edward. IV. A pair of keythongs.

English armory knows an animal which it terms the male griffin, which has no wings, but which has gold rays issuing from its body in all directions. [Hugo Gerard] Ströhl terms the badge of the Earls of Ormonde, which from his description are plainly male griffins, keythongs, which he classes with the panther; and probably he is correct in looking upon our male griffin as merely one form of the heraldic panther.

Infrequently, a griffin is portrayed without wings; in 15th-century and later heraldry such a beast may be called an ‘alce’ or a ‘keythong.’

Folks gave the beast many names. Griffin, griffon, gryphon, alce, keythong, gryphen, griffen, gryphen, and opinicus…

The more common representation of the griffin is the female griffin, a creature with wings. Male griffins do NOT have wings and are termed “alces” or “keythongs.”

They’d befriended him because he fed them the tastiest morsels, Alce, the gilded griffin, preferred Marvel while Keythong, the agate stone one, craved DC Comics.

There were griffins in all their variety—the standard winged, lion-rumped, eagle-headed; the wingless keythong; the opinicus, with a lion’s forelegs; and the hippogriff, with its horse parts thrown in for good measure. They all looked more or less the same to Meg, and she was surprised to see each kind grouped in its own offish little clique, the keythongs eyeing the hippogriffs with dark suspicion, who in turn raised their hackles at the traditional griffins.

Word Forms

• keythongs

Synonyms for keythong

When Should You Use Keythong?

Use keythong when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

Practice This Word

Frequently Asked Questions