Livestock

How to spell livestock

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce livestock

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does livestock mean?

1. nounFarm animals such as cattle, sheep, and pigs kept and raised for use or profit.

Livestock in a sentence

• The drought forced many farmers to sell their livestock early.

• Strict regulations govern how livestock are transported across the border.

Where does livestock come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Livestock is a transparent English compound, joining the adjective 'live' with the noun 'stock'. The first part comes from Old English 'libban', meaning 'to live', shortened to 'live' and used here in the sense of 'living' rather than slaughtered. The second part comes from Old English 'stocc', which originally meant a tree trunk or post and later broadened into the idea of a fund, supply, or store of goods held in reserve; from that came the farming sense of a 'stock' of animals. By the late eighteenth century farmers and agricultural writers were combining the two to distinguish the living animals on a farm, the cattle, sheep, and pigs, from 'dead stock' such as machinery and tools. Because both halves are common everyday words, the spelling holds few surprises, the only trap being the temptation to insert a space and write it as two words.

How the word is built

• live (alive, kept alive)
• stock (animals or goods held as property)