cattle
pronunciation
How to pronounce cattle in British English:
UK [ˈkætl]
How to pronounce cattle in American English:
US [ˈkætl]
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- Noun:
- domesticated bovine animals as a group regardless of sex or age
Word Origin
- cattle
- cattle: [13] Ultimately, cattle is the same word as chattel [13], and when it first entered English it had the same meaning, ‘property’. From earliest times, however, it was applied specifically to livestock thought of as property. In the Middle Ages it was a wide-ranging term in animal husbandry, being used for horses, sheep, pigs, and even poultry and bees, as well as cows, and such usages survived dialectally until comparatively recently, but from the mid 16th century onwards there is increasing evidence of the word’s being restricted solely to cows.Its ultimate source is medieval Latin capitāle ‘property’, which came to English via Old French chatel as chattel and via Anglo-Norman catel as cattle. Capitāle itself goes back to classical Latin capitālis (from caput ‘head’), from which English gets capital.=> capital, chattel
- cattle (n.)
- mid-13c., "property," from Anglo-French catel "property" (Old North French catel, Old French chatel), from Medieval Latin capitale "property, stock," noun use of neuter of Latin adjective capitalis "principal, chief" (see capital (n.1)). Compare sense development of fee, pecuniary. Sense originally was of movable property, especially livestock; it began to be limited to "cows and bulls" from late 16c.
Example
- 1. Cattle are a cultural touchstone for most south sudanese .
- 2. Young men used to try to rustle cattle with spears .
- 3. Cattle were tested , but their feed and meat were not .
- 4. Thank you for coming out and showing them that you are not cattle .
- 5. He says he will try to breed more cattle and rebuild his life .