breed
pronunciation
How to pronounce breed in British English:
UK [briːd]
How to pronounce breed in American English:
US [briːd]
-
- Noun:
- a special lineage
- a special variety of domesticated animals within a species
- half-caste offspring of parents of different races (especially of white and Indian parents)
- a lineage or race of people
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- Verb:
- call forth
- copulate with a female, used especially of horses
- of plants or animals
- have young (animals)
Word Origin
- breed
- breed: [OE] The Old English verb brēdan came from West Germanic *brōdjan, a derivative of *brōd-, which produced brood. This in turn was based on *brō-, whose ultimate source was the Indo-European base *bhrē- ‘burn, heat’ (its other English descendants include braise, breath, and probably brawn). The underlying notion of breed is thus not ‘reproduction’ so much as ‘incubation, the warmth which promotes hatching’.=> braise, brawn, breath, brood
- breed (v.)
- Old English bredan "bring young to birth, carry," also "cherish, keep warm," from West Germanic *brodjan (cognates: Old High German bruoten, German brüten "to brood, hatch"), from *brod- "fetus, hatchling," from PIE *bhreue- "burn, heat" (see brood (n.)). Original notion of the word was incubation, warming to hatch. Sense of "grow up, be reared" (in a clan, etc.) is late 14c. Related: Bred; breeding.
- breed (n.)
- "race, lineage, stock" (originally of animals), 1550s, from breed (v.). Of persons, from 1590s. Meaning "kind, species" is from 1580s.
Example
- 1. That 's because mosquitoes breed in standing water .
- 2. He says he will try to breed more cattle and rebuild his life .
- 3. They breed in the maritime provinces of eastern canada and winter along the atlantic coast .
- 4. The zoo has been attempting to breed the galapagos tortoise for the last ten years .
- 5. The ability to determine the genetic potential of a racehorse 's parent may prove crucial to breed high-quality racehorses .