cattle

plural noun

cat·​tle ˈka-tᵊl How to pronounce cattle (audio)
1
: domesticated quadrupeds held as property or raised for use
specifically : bovine animals on a farm or ranch
2
: human beings especially en masse

Examples of cattle in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Shooting near Crowley district elementary school closes campus to students → Texas cattle ranchers have reasons to fear tariffs [Get our breaking news alerts. Harriet Ramos, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 17 Apr. 2025 Each dry season, farmers carve up and burn hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of acres in one of the world’s largest terrestrial carbon sinks to make way for cattle pastures and soy plantations, the leading engines of deforestation across Brazil. Sarah Sax, The Atlantic, 16 Apr. 2025 His no-nonsense approach to fundamental analysis of commodities like gold, silver, crude oil, soybeans, lumber, cattle, coffee, and frozen concentrated orange juice, was referenced frequently by the top networks and publications in the industry. James Cordier, Forbes.com, 16 Apr. 2025 The authors urged the federal government to take swift action to protect the riverside and aquatic critical habitat by removing more cattle from these sensitive areas. Sharon Udasin, The Hill, 2 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for cattle

Word History

Etymology

Middle English catel, cadel "property (whether real or personal), goods, treasure, livestock, (in plural cateles) possessions," borrowed from Anglo-French katil "property, goods, wealth," borrowed from medieval French (dialects of Picardy and French Flanders) catel, going back to Medieval Latin capitāle "movable property, riches," (in Anglo-Saxon law texts) "head of cattle," noun derivative from neuter of capitālis "of the head, chief, principal" — more at capital entry 1

Note: Note that the spelling cattle is uncommon before the eighteenth century. Anglo-French katil is a variant of chatel—see chattel, which is a doublet of this word. Though the variant with [k] is rare in Anglo-French, catel is frequent and used almost interchangeably with chatel in Middle English. The sense "livestock," however, is only attached to catel, to judge from citations in the Middle English Dictionary. — Regarding the meaning "movable property, riches" of capitālis see the note at capital entry 2.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of cattle was in the 14th century

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Cattle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cattle. Accessed 20 Apr. 2025.

Kids Definition

cattle

noun
cat·​tle ˈkat-ᵊl How to pronounce cattle (audio)
plural cattle
: domestic four-footed animals held as property or raised for use
especially : bovine animals (as cows, bulls, or steers) kept on a farm or ranch

More from Merriam-Webster on cattle

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!