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.
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
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
Seven days ago, farm owner Ben Best had been cleaning a pen in the morning when he noticed a foal standing between his two pregnant donkeys, Star and Mary.
From BBC • May 3, 2025
As a May foal, he was a little late developing.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 29, 2025
"And I was only a little foal when I left so I don't quite fully understand it myself."
From "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis
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.
