Bitterns are a classification of birds in the
heron family, Ardeidae, a family of wading birds. Species named bitterns tend to be the shorter-necked, often more secretive members of this family. They were called
hæferblæte in
Old English; the word "bittern" came to
English from
Old French butor, itself from Gallo-Roman
butitaurus, a compound of
Latin butio and
taurus. Bitterns form a
monophyletic subfamily in the heron family, the
Botaurinae.