foal
Americannoun
-
foals
plural
verb (used with or without object)
-
foals,
present (3rd person singular)
-
foaled,
past participle, past
-
foaling
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
foalsimple
-
foalssimple
-
have foaledperfect
-
has foaledperfect
-
am foalingprogressive
-
are foalingprogressive
-
is foalingprogressive
-
have been foalingperfect progressive
-
has been foalingperfect progressive
Past
-
foaledsimple
-
had foaledperfect
-
was foalingprogressive
-
were foalingprogressive
-
had been foalingperfect progressive
Future
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.
See Examples For:
Each new foal bore the promise of outperforming a carefully chosen set of parents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
Two horses were dead when he arrived, including a foal that appeared stillborn or miscarried.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 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
A beautiful horse, a strawberry stallion he had raised from a foal.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
Horse-obsessed Gurbanguly has churned out numerous books about Akhal-Tekes and even penned a rap song in honour of one of his foals.
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
The consultants recommended that racing emulate the NBA and show off lifestyle content—“from foals at the farm to fashion and food at the races”—that would help the sport look cool.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
A farmer from South Uist claims sea eagles are behind the disappearance of five Shetland pony foals from his hillside croft.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2025
A herd of about 40 mares, stallions and foals graze lazily on dry grass over the rugged Stolovi mountain in Serbia's southwest, one out of three such bands of wild horses in the Balkan country.
From Reuters ● Sep. 1, 2023
For example, herds of wild horses consist of one stallion, up to half a dozen mares, and their foals.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Both donkeys had, in fact, foaled at the exact same time.
From BBC ● May 3, 2025
He also gave sworn friend Jamuqa for a mount Toqto’a’s yellowish white mare with a black tail and mane, a mare that had not foaled for several years.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
The purses are built from nominations of horses and stallions from the day a horse is foaled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2023
According to one report, about 20,000 thoroughbreds are foaled every year in the U.S., and the Kentucky Derby takes only 20 three-year-olds.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 28, 2020
‘Away now, Shadowfax! Run, greatheart, run as you have never run before! Now we are come to the lands where you were foaled, and every stone you know. Run now! Hope is in speed!’
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
That includes avoiding peak foaling periods and hot weather that would stress the horses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
Leigh says the bureau has erroneously concluded that peak foaling season is the same for all herds - from March 1 through June 30.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 9, 2023
“This particular herd is foaling now and pregnant now,” Jessica Blome, their lawyer, told Du on Wednesday.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 27, 2022
“If we have a mare foaling at 1 a.m. and another at 5 a.m., she is up watching both of them. She knows every horse she owns and there are no shortcuts with her.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 30, 2015
He knowed, I reckon, that maybe I weren’t no horse foaling.
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
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.
