Kine
/kaɪn/noun
An archaic or dialectal plural of cow.
Did you know?Kine survives as a relic of the Old English weak noun plural, where the ending was once pronounced like a separate syllable, making this one of English’s oldest everyday animal words.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*gʷōus
“cow, ox”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*kūz
“cow”
Old English
OE
cȳ
“cows”
Middle English
ME
kyen / kine
“cows, cattle”
Modern English
English
kine
“archaic plural of cow”