ibex

[ahy-beks]

noun

plural

ibexes, ibices ,

plural

ibex .

1. any of several wild goats of the genus Capra, inhabiting mountainous regions of Eurasia and North Africa, having long, recurved horns.

ibex

/ ˈaɪbɛks /

noun

1. any of three wild goats, Capra ibex, C. caucasica, or C. pyrenaica, of mountainous regions of Europe, Asia, and North Africa, having large backward-curving horns

Word History and Origins

Origin of ibex¹

Borrowed into English from Latin around 1600–10

Word History and Origins

Origin of ibex¹

C17: from Latin: chamois

Example Sentences

The engravings, which depict animals such as camels, ibex, equids, gazelles, and aurochs, include 130 highly detailed and life-sized figures, some reaching up to 3 meters long and more than 2 meters tall.

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"We used to have 40 to 50 sheep, now we've only got four or five, and the reason is the threat from snow leopards and from ibex eating the grass," he says.

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Among the rock drawings are many of ibexes, but also some that have been interpreted as depicting the tablets of the commandments or other references from the Bible.

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An extraordinary silver vase for holy offerings is incised with line drawings of a lion-headed eagle, attribute of a rainstorm god, with two reclining ibexes and two lions clutched helplessly in its talons.

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Beneath the philosophical welter, a new world glitters with prelapsarian strangeness: Gangs of plump cats raid administrative lobbies, chamois goats prance along train tracks, ibexes graze hotel lawns.

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