goatherd

American  

[goht-hurd] / ˈgoʊtˌhɜrd /

noun

1. a person who tends goats.

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goatherd British  

/ ˈɡəʊtˌhɜːd /

noun

1. a person employed to tend or herd goats

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Etymology

Origin of goatherd

before 1000; Middle English; Old English gāthyrde. See goat, herd ²

Explanation

A goatherd is someone who herds and cares for a group of goats. In India and other parts of South Asia, goatherds raise animals whose wool is used to make cashmere sweaters. Goatherd comes from the Old English gat-hyrde, or goat herder. Anyone who tends to a herd of goats can call themselves a goatherd, whether they're raising them for their fleecy coats or using their milk to make goat cheese. Herding goats involves moving them from one field or pasture to another, because they're constantly chewing vegetation. Some goatherds corral their goats in areas where invasive plants are a problem: goats are even used to eradicate poison ivy.

Example Sentences

An old goatherd imparts sage advice, telling Damien that “time shifts for the grieving. Our bodies change; things don’t quite appear the same anymore.”

From Seattle Times • Aug. 28, 2023

During their travels, they arrived at a dilapidated church, where, at Lucas’s command, a young goatherd was sent into a cave amid the ruins.

From The New Yorker • May 24, 2019

Gloria Putnam is the goatherd of this motley tribe, and she walks among them, picking mistletoe tangled in an oak to feed the matriarch of the herd, an 11-year-old named Rosie.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 16, 2018

I dreamed that I was a goatherd and I lived in a deep dark tunnel where there was no regular order and the goats were very critical of my performance.

From Washington Post • Oct. 8, 2015

I waited a full hour, keeping time on my thrift store watch, to make sure we were far enough behind the goatherd to not meet up with him again.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall

Related Words

• herder
• rancher