Ox
/ɒks/noun
An adult bovine animal, especially a castrated male used for draft work.
Did you know?Ox is one of the oldest inherited animal names in English, descending from a Proto-Indo-European root that also gave Latin bos and Greek bous, the source of many cattle-related words.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*gʷṓus
“cattle, cow”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*uhsą
“ox, male cattle”
Old English
English
oxa
“ox”
Middle English
English
ox
“ox”
Modern English
English
ox
“an adult bovine animal, especially a castrated male used for draft work”