A small crane or a young crane bird; a diminutive form suggesting something crane-like but smaller.
From 'crane' plus the diminutive suffix '-et' (from French, as in 'helmet', 'tablet'). A rare or archaic term for a small crane.
English borrowed diminutive suffixes from French after 1066—that's why we have '-et' (booklet, tablet, eaglet) alongside '-let' (piglet, leaflet)—two competing tiny-thing suffixes from different languages wrestling in one language!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.