foal
Americannoun
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foals
plural
verb (used with or without object)
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foals,
present (3rd person singular)
-
foaled,
past participle, past
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foaling
present participle
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
foalsimple
-
foalssimple
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have foaledperfect
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has foaledperfect
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am foalingprogressive
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are foalingprogressive
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is foalingprogressive
-
have been foalingperfect progressive
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has been foalingperfect progressive
Past
-
foaledsimple
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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
People don't always realise they can be taking on a near-lifetime commitment, he said, as a donkey foal can live for up to 50 years.
From BBC ● May 16, 2026
A brown foal with a white stripe on its muzzle teetered on toothpick legs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 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
Seabiscuit had been a very late foal, born at the end of May 1933, but in January 1935, half a year short of his actual birthday, he was deemed a two-year-old, officially eligible to race.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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
The 51-year-old told the BBC he was on his way to Canterbury to drop the foals off for a friend when the crash happened between junctions 24 and 25 eastbound at 08:50 BST on Saturday.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2023
The process is called docking and often is performed on foals using a special constricting band, the American Veterinary Medical Association explained on its website.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 20, 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
A lot of owners passed on the horse last year because he was foaled on April 30, making him the youngest horse in the race.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2023
Knicks Go was foaled on Jan. 29, 2016, meaning he actually turns 6 on Saturday.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 28, 2022
‘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
Among those at the foaling was co-owner Ann Holbrook, who campaigned Zenyatta with her former husband, A&M Records co-founder Jerry Moss.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 12, 2023
“This particular herd is foaling now and pregnant now,” Jessica Blome, their lawyer, told Du on Wednesday.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 27, 2022
As Our Josephina began the unenviable act of foaling, the foal’s emerging hooves looked alarmingly large.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 29, 2015
Noah, the foaling groom at Claiborne, had summed it up about as well as anyone when he pulled Seabiscuit into the world: “Runty little thing.”
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
