udder
Americannoun
-
udders
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of udder
before 1000; Middle English uddre, Old English ūder; cognate with German Euter, Latin ūber, Greek oûthar, Sanskrit ū́dhar
Explanation
A cow's udder is the part of its body that produces milk. When you milk a cow, you empty its udder by squeezing the milk into a bucket. Moo! To milk any four-legged ruminant, you need to carefully squeeze and pull each teat after cleaning the udder. Large dairy farmers use machines to do this, while some smaller ones do it by hand. Female cattle, goats, deer, and sheep all produce milk and have udders, organs in their bodies that contain mammary glands.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
These receptors were found throughout the udder tissue of cattle but were nearly absent in airway tissue.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
In an unassuming building in Stratford, east London, British start-up Better Dairy is making cheese that has never seen an udder, which it argues tastes like the real thing.
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2025
Even so, experts say bacteria can still contaminate milk — even when procured from a sparkling-clean udder.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2024
He didn’t expect to find himself under an udder on Tuesday.
From Seattle Times ● May 21, 2024
He took a rag, dipped it into the soap water, and washed Sophie’s udder.
From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia
Rather than primarily infecting the lungs, H5N1 caused severe infections in the udders while leaving the respiratory system largely unaffected.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 23, 2026
“Their faces are approximately 5 inches away from the milk and the udders all day long,” she said.
From Salon ● May 29, 2024
The virus might be transmitted from cow to cow in milk droplets on dairy workers’ clothing or gloves, or in the suction cups attached to the udders for milking, Lyons said.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 4, 2024
Unlike other supermarket staples that can halt the factory line when the market shifts, cows can’t just turn off their udders.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 11, 2023
She licked the salty blocks of ice for food and for drink, and the milk that ran from her four udders flowed like rivers.
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
