farrow
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Origin of farrow
1Words nearby farrow
Other definitions for farrow (2 of 2)
Origin of farrow
2VOCAB BUILDER
What does farrow mean?
A farrow is a litter of piglets. Farrow can also be used as a verb meaning (for a mother pig) to produce a litter of piglets.
Unrelatedly, farrow can also be used as an adjective describing a cow that is not pregnant in a given year—one year a cow may have baby cows, and the next year it may be farrow.
Example: Three of our sows successfully farrowed—each had a farrow of 12 piglets.
Where does farrow come from?
The first records of farrow in reference to pigs come from before the 900s. It comes from the Old English fearh, meaning “pig.” The first records of farrow in reference to cows comes from the late 1400s. That term is related to the Old English fearr, meaning “ox.” Despite their similarity, there’s no apparent connection between the terms.
Farrow is most commonly used in reference to pregnant pigs and litters of piglets. A sow (an adult female pig) that is pregnant can be said to in farrow. Pig farmers sometimes have special farrowing barns where sows can give birth. In a single year, a sow can give birth to as many as three farrows (litters). As a verb, farrow can be used with an object (as in The sow farrowed 11 piglets) or without one (as in Two of the sows are ready to farrow).
When farrow is an adjective applied to cows, it indicates the opposite situation: a farrow cow is one that is not calving (giving births to calves).
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What are some other forms related to farrow?
- farrowing (adjective, continuous tense verb)
- nonfarrowing (adjective)
What are some synonyms for farrow?
What are some words that often get used in discussing farrow?
What are some words farrow may be commonly confused with?
How is farrow used in real life?
Farrow is typically used as part of the jargon of pig farming and breeding.
Sleeping in barn again waiting for Princess to farrow. Very cozy & calm except for what sounds like a balrog three bays over. Must be Pearl.
— Longbush Pork (@longbushpork) July 3, 2014
Kinda breaks my heart not being able to farrow out sows with dad 💔
— Kalin Greiner (@Kalin_Greiner) January 2, 2017
Catching up on freshman Molly Clark’s Swine SAE project. Her SAE consists of breeding swine that she cares for, breeds, farrows and shows at the county fair. pic.twitter.com/9wvCDg2TXS
— Bradford-UVCC FFA (@ffabradford) April 22, 2020
Try using farrow!
Is farrow used correctly in the following sentence?
The chicken farrowed three eggs.