Home › Forums › Decaffeinated Coffee › Singular term for cattle
- This topic has 11 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 2 months ago by Lightbrite.
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February 8, 2017 12:59 am at 12:59 am #619208👑RebYidd23Participant
None exists. This is an outrage!
February 8, 2017 1:06 am at 1:06 am #1215311tobsParticipantthey should join up with the fish and sheep and protest
February 8, 2017 1:46 am at 1:46 am #1215312MenoParticipantCattle have it worse than sheep and fish. There is such a thing as “a fish” or “a sheep”. There’s no such thing as “a cattle”.
February 8, 2017 3:03 am at 3:03 am #1215313LightbriteParticipantUmmm hello… Cow and Bull.
February 8, 2017 1:41 pm at 1:41 pm #1215314👑RebYidd23ParticipantThose don’t count. Neither is a singular term that can be used for any individual of the collective cattle.
February 8, 2017 2:11 pm at 2:11 pm #1215315zahavasdadParticipantBovine
February 8, 2017 2:22 pm at 2:22 pm #1215317LightbriteParticipantAlso Motivated Grammar:
[Update 07/13: Anndra in the comments noted that Scots use the word beast as the genderless singular of cattle. This reminded me that there is a word that is specific to a bovine animal and is genderless and ageless: neat, as in neatfoot oil. Unfortunately, beast is of limited geographical reach, and neat is archaic, although I might try to adopt one or both into my lexicon all the same.]”
February 8, 2017 3:00 pm at 3:00 pm #1215318Avram in MDParticipantzahavasdad,
Bovine
It works! I think bovine historically is an adjective (of or relating to animals in the bovinae subfamily), but just like the adjectives feline, canine, male, female, etc., bovine has evolved in usage to be a noun as well.
RebYidd23, we have changed the English language just for you.
February 8, 2017 3:05 pm at 3:05 pm #1215319Avram in MDParticipantAll animals are beasts!
February 8, 2017 3:37 pm at 3:37 pm #1215320benignumanParticipantBovine doesn’t only refer to cattle. Buffalo, wild oxen, and other animals are also Bovines.
February 8, 2017 8:00 pm at 8:00 pm #1215321twistedParticipantThe poverty of modern English is not reflected in other languages
February 8, 2017 11:38 pm at 11:38 pm #1215322LightbriteParticipantMaybe if we swapped English with hieroglyphics it would resolve the issues of alternative facts
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