foal
Americannoun
verb (used with or without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of foal
before 950; (noun) Middle English fole, Old English fola; cognate with Old High German folo ( German Fohlen ); akin to Latin pullus young animal, Greek pôlos foal; (v.) Middle English, derivative of the noun
Explanation
A foal is a baby horse. Most horses give birth to only one foal at a time, though occasionally they have two. You can use the word foal for a horse that's younger than one year old — after turning one, a foal becomes a yearling. Foals can be either male, also called a colt, or female, also called a filly. When a mare, or adult female horse, has a baby, you can say she foals. The Old English root word, fola, means "foal" or "colt."
Vocabulary lists containing foal
The Horse and His Boy
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The War That Saved My Life
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"Rachel the Clever"
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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.
He looks to buy fillies and mares that are good broodmare prospects, then either resells them or breeds them and sells the foal.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 30, 2026
Mr Cameron added that the mare of the first animal they lost "went back on her own to the area she was last with her foal".
From BBC • Sep. 3, 2025
Dwindling foal crops, shrinking purses and a stagnant and aging fan base has pointed to California racing being on the edge of extinction.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 28, 2025
The farm's vet confirmed the foal was stillborn due to a rare deformity but could not confirm which one was the mother of which foal.
From BBC • May 3, 2025
A beautiful horse, a strawberry stallion he had raised from a foal.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
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.
