buzzard [ME] Old French busard is the source, based on Latin būteō ‘falcon’. The buzzard was considered an inferior kind of hawk which was useless for falconry; this led, apparently, to its use as a derogatory description of an ignorant or stupid person [LME]. The force weakened over time and the phrase old buzzard may convey nothing more than ‘old chap’. In dialect a buzzard is sometimes ‘a moth’ or ‘cockchafer’ but this word is based on buzz, a Late Middle English word based on the sound.