cattle

plural noun

cat·​tle ˈka-tᵊl 

1

: domesticated quadrupeds held as property or raised for use

specifically : bovine animals on a farm or ranch

2

: human beings especially en masse

Examples of cattle in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Last month, it was detected in U.S. dairy cattle for the first time and two people have also been infected, both of whom had mild symptoms after coming across infected cattle. —Li Cohen, CBS News, 29 May 2024

The agency has similar safeguards in place for cattle and requires for poultry and cattle to be inspected for signs of disease before and after slaughter. —Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald, 28 May 2024

Bird flu was only detected in one cow, the USDA said, noting that the virus was found in the cattle’s tissue samples, including muscle. —Francisco Velasquez, Quartz, 28 May 2024

As first reported by Steamboat Radio, the strike killed the animals and 51-year-old Mike Morgan, who had just finished branding cattle and was starting to feed them when lightning struck. —Stephanie Butzer, The Denver Post, 26 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English catel, cadel "property (whether real or personal), goods, treasure, livestock, (in plural cateles) possessions," borrowed from Anglo-French katil "property, goods, wealth," borrowed from medieval French (dialects of Picardy and French Flanders) catel, going back to Medieval Latin capitāle "movable property, riches," (in Anglo-Saxon law texts) "head of cattle," noun derivative from neuter of capitālis "of the head, chief, principal" — more at capital entry 1

Note: Note that the spelling cattle is uncommon before the eighteenth century. Anglo-French katil is a variant of chatel—see chattel, which is a doublet of this word. Though the variant with [k] is rare in Anglo-French, catel is frequent and used almost interchangeably with chatel in Middle English. The sense "livestock," however, is only attached to catel, to judge from citations in the Middle English Dictionary. — Regarding the meaning "movable property, riches" of capitālis see the note at capital entry 2.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing cattle

• Australian cattle dog
• beef cattle
• cattle call
• cattle egret
• cattle grid
• cattle grub
• cattle guard
• cattle prod
• cattle tick
• common cattle grub
• dairy cattle
• short-nosed cattle louse

Kids Definition

cattle

noun

cat·​tle ˈkat-ᵊl 

plural cattle

: domestic four-footed animals held as property or raised for use

especially : bovine animals (as cows, bulls, or steers) kept on a farm or ranch