Pony

How to spell pony

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce pony

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does pony mean?

1. nounA small breed of horse, typically with a sturdy build and short legs.

Pony in a sentence

• The children took turns riding the pony around the paddock.

• She brushed the pony before leading it into the stable.

Where does pony come from?

Language of origin: French

Pony comes from the Scots word 'powny', which appears in the early 1700s and described a small horse. The Scots term is generally traced back to the French 'poulenet', a diminutive meaning 'little foal', built on 'poulain' (a young horse). That French word in turn rests on the Late Latin 'pullanus', from Latin 'pullus', which literally meant the young of any animal, whether a foal, a chick, or a young bird. The sense narrowed in English to mean specifically a small breed of horse rather than simply any young one. The same Latin 'pullus' lies behind 'poultry' and 'pullet', so the word for a small horse is a distant cousin of the word for a young hen, and the simple, phonetic spelling rarely troubles writers.

How the word is built

• pony (from Scots 'powny', ultimately from Latin pullus: a young animal or foal)