Ox
nounA castrated adult male of domestic cattle, kept for pulling loads or farm work.
How to spell ox
2 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce ox
What does ox mean?
- nounA castrated adult male of domestic cattle, kept for pulling loads or farm work.
Ox in a sentence
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The farmer harnessed a strong ox to pull the plough.
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A single ox can haul a surprisingly heavy cart.
Where does ox come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
The word comes from the Old English oxa, which named a domesticated bovine, especially a castrated male used for hauling and ploughing. It descends from a shared Germanic root that also produced the German Ochse and Dutch os, and which linguists trace back to a Proto-Indo-European source connected with ideas of moisture or sprinkling, perhaps describing the animal as a source of seed. What makes the word memorable is its plural: ox keeps the ancient Germanic -en ending in 'oxen', placing it in the same small club as 'children' and 'brethren'. The spelling itself is wonderfully plain, just two letters and an x, and it has barely changed in over a thousand years.
How the word is built
- ox (single root noun; irregular plural 'oxen' from Old English -an plural ending)
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