ox - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

• (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɑks/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɒks/
• Rhymes: -ɒks

Two oxen.

From Middle English oxe, from Old English oxa, from Proto-West Germanic *ohsō, from Proto-Germanic *uhsô (compare West Frisian okse, Dutch os, German Ochse), from Proto-Indo-European *uksḗn.

Cognate with Welsh ych (“ox”), Tocharian A ops, Tocharian B okso (“draft-ox”), Avestan 𐬎𐬑𐬱𐬀𐬥 (uxšan, “bull”), Sanskrit उ॒क्षन् (ukṣán).

ox (plural oxen or (nonstandard) oxes)

1. An adult castrated male of cattle (B. taurus), especially when used as a beast of burden.
   a yoke of oxen
2. Any bovine animal (genus Bos).
   Synonym: (archaic) neat
   • 1934, commentary on the Qur'an (Sura 39 verse 6) by Abdullah Yusuf Ali:
     Here the same four kinds are mentioned ... These are sheep, goats, camels and oxen.

• (castrated male of cattle): bullock, steer

• dumb as an ox

• Durham Ox

• grey ox

• grunting ox

• have the black ox tread on one's foot

• Indian ox

• Japanese ox

• Javan ox

• know someone from Adam's off ox

• musk-ox

• musk ox

• near ox

• nox

• off ox

• one hair of a woman can draw more than a hundred pair of oxen

• oxback

• oxbane

• ox beetle

• ox bile

• oxbird

• ox-biter

• oxblood

• oxbow

• ox bow

• ox-butt

• oxcart

• ox-eye

• oxeye

• ox-eyed

• ox-eye daisy

• oxflesh

• oxfly

• Oxford

• ox gall

• oxgall

• oxgang

• oxgate

• oxgoad

• oxhead

• oxheart

• oxherd

• Oxhey

• oxhide

• oxhind

• oxhorn

• oxish

• ox is in the ditch

• oxkind

• ox knee

• oxland

• oxless

• oxlike

• oxling

• oxpecker

• ox pith

• ox ray

• oxshoe

• oxskin

• oxtail

• oxteam

• oxtongue

• ox tongue spear, ox-tongue spear

• ox warbler

• play the giddy ox

• pulse ox

• sea-ox

• shrub ox

• strong as an ox

• whose ox is gored

• wild ox

• aurochs (from *ūrô (“aurochs”) + *uhsô (“ox”))

• → Abenaki: aksen (via "oxen")

• → Malecite-Passamaquoddy: akson (via "oxen")

• → Unami: aksën (via "oxen")

an adult castrated male of cattle

• Afrikaans: os (af)
• Akkadian: 𒄞 m (GUD /⁠alpu⁠/)
• Armenian: եզ (hy) (ez)
  Old Armenian: եզն (ezn)
• Asturian: güe (ast)
• Avar: оц (oc)
• Azerbaijani: öküz (az)
• Bashkir: үгеҙ (ügeź)
• Basque: idi (eu)
• Belarusian: вол m (vol)
• Bulgarian: вол (bg) m (vol)
• Carpathian Rusyn: віл (vil)
• Catalan: bou (ca) m
• Chechen: сту (stu)
• Chinese:
  Mandarin: 公牛 (zh) (gōngniú)
• Comorian:
  Ngazidja Comorian: mfulwa mɓe
• Crimean Tatar: öküz
• Czech: vůl (cs) m
• Dutch: os (nl) m
• Egyptian: (ngꜣw), (jḥ)
• Estonian: härg (et) sg
• Finnish: härkä (fi)
• French: bœuf (fr) m
• Frisian:
  North Frisian: Aus (Sylt)
• Gagauz: öküz
• Galician: boi (gl) m
• Ge'ez: ሶር (sor)
• German: Ochse (de) m
  Alemannic German: Ochs m
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍃𐌰 m (auhsa)
• Greek: βόδι (el) n (vódi)
• Haitian Creole: bèf
• Hebrew: שׁוֹר (he) m (šor)
• Hindi: बैल (hi) m (bail)
• Hungarian: ökör (hu)
• Icelandic: uxi (is)
• Indonesian: lembu (id)
• Ingrian: härkä, hällö
• Italian: bue (it) m
• Javanese: sapi (jv)
  Old Javanese: lĕmbu
• Kaingang: monh
• Kazakh: өгіз (ögız)
• Kyrgyz: өгүз (ky) (ögüz)
• Ladin: bo m
• Latin: bōs (la) m
• Latvian: vērsis (lv) m
• Lithuanian: jautis (lt)
• Livonian: ǟrga
• Lombard: bö, bœu
• Maltese: gendus m
• Marathi: बैल m (bail)
• Middle English: oxe
• Mòcheno: ocks m
• Mon: ဂၠဴကၟက်
• Mongolian:
  Cyrillic: шар (mn) (šar), шар үхэр (šar üxer)
• Northern Altai: чар (čar)
• Norwegian:
  Bokmål: okse (no) m
  Nynorsk: okse m
• Occitan: buòu (oc) m
• Old Turkic: 𐰈𐰛𐰈𐰕 (üküz /⁠öküz⁠/)
• Oromo: sangaa
• Pali: goṇa
• Pannonian Rusyn: вол m (vol)
• Piedmontese: beu m
• Polish: wół (pl) m animal
• Portuguese: boi (pt) m
• Romagnol: bo m
• Romani: guruv m
• Romanian: bou (ro)
• Russian: вол (ru) m (vol)
• Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic: во̑л m, во̑ m
  Latin: vȏl (sh) m, vȏ (sh) m
• Sherpa: གླང (glang)
• Sicilian: voi (scn) m
• Sidamo: hando
• Sikkimese: གླང (glang)
• Slovak: vôl (sk) m
• Slovene: vol (sl) m
• Sorbian:
  Lower Sorbian: woł m
  Upper Sorbian: woł m
• Southern Altai: бука (buka)
• Spanish: buey (es) m
• Sumerian: 𒄞 (GUD)
• Swedish: oxe (sv) c
• Tarifit: afunas m
• Tibetan: གླང (glang)
• Tigrinya: ብዕራይ (ti) (bəʿray)
• Turkish: öküz (tr)
  Ottoman Turkish: اوكوز (öküz), صیغير (sığır)
• Turkmen: öküz
• Udi: ус (us)
• Ukrainian: віл (uk) (vil)
• Urdu: بَیل m (bail)
• Uzbek: hoʻkiz (uz)
• Vietnamese: bò đực thiến
• Walloon: boû (wa) m
• Welsh: ych (cy) m
• Yiddish: אָקס m (oks)

any bovine animal used as a beast of burden

• Afrikaans: os (af), bees (af)
• Akan: nandwie (Abron)
• Albanian: ka (sq)
• Altai:
  Southern Altai: ӧкӱс (öküs), бука (buka)
• Amharic: በሬ (bäre)
• Arabic: ثَوْر (ar) m (ṯawr)
• Armenian: եզ (hy) (ez)
  Old Armenian: եզն (ezn)
• Aromanian: bou m
• Asturian: güe (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: öküz (az) m
• Basque: idi (eu) m
• Belarusian: вол m (vol), бык m (byk) (bull)
• Bulgarian: вол (bg) m (vol)
• Catalan: bou (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᎦᏓᎵ (gadali)
• Chinese:
  Mandarin: 犉 (zh) (rún), 牛 (zh) (niú) (bull or cow)
• Czech: vůl (cs) m
• Dalmatian: bu m
• Danish: okse (da) c
• Dutch: os (nl) m
• Eshtehardi: گو m (geow)
• Esperanto: okso
• Estonian: härg (et)
• Ewe: nyi
• Faroese: oksi m
• Finnish: härkä (fi), nauta (fi)
• French: bœuf (fr) m
• Frisian:
  North Frisian: oxse
• Friulian: bo m, nemâl m
• Galician: boi (gl) m
• German: Rind (de) m; Zugrind n; Zugtier (de) n
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍃𐌰 m (auhsa)
• Greek: βόδι (el) n (vódi)
• Haitian Creole: bèf
• Hebrew: שׁוֹר (he) m (šor)
• Hindi: बैल (hi) m (bail)
• Hungarian: ökör (hu)
• Icelandic: uxi (is)
• Indonesian: lembu (id)
• Irish: damh m
• Italian: bue (it) m, bove (it)
• Japanese: 去勢雄牛 (きょせいおうし, kyosei ōshi)
• Karachay-Balkar: ёгюз (ögüz)
• Kazakh: өгіз (ögız)
• Khmer: (please verify) គោឈ្មោល (go chmol)
• Korean: (please verify) 악대소 (ko) (akdaeso) , (please verify) 불깐소 (bulkkanso)
• Kurdish:
  Northern Kurdish: ga (ku)
• Latgalian: vierss m
• Latin: bōs (la) m, armentum n
• Latvian: vērsis (lv)
• Lithuanian: jautis (lt) m
• Livonian: ǟrga
• Low German: Oss m
• Lü: ᦷᦣ (ho)
• Luxembourgish: Ochs m, Uess m
• Macedonian: вол (mk) m (vol)
• Middle English: oxe
• Mòcheno: ocks
• Mongolian:
  Cyrillic: үхэр (mn) (üxer)
• Norwegian:
  Bokmål: okse (no) m
  Nynorsk: okse m
• Nuosu: ꇌ (le)
• Occitan: buòu (oc) m
• Old Church Slavonic: волъ m (volŭ)
• Old East Slavic: волъ m (volŭ)
• Old Norse: oxi m, uxi m
• Old Turkic: 𐰈𐰛𐰈𐰕 (üküz /⁠öküz⁠/)
• Persian:
  Iranian Persian: گاو (fa) (gâv), وَرْزا (varzâ), بَرْزَگاو (barzagâv)
• Polish: wół (pl) m
• Portuguese: boi (pt) m
• Romanian: bou (ro) m
• Romansh: bov
• Russian: вол (ru) m (vol), бык (ru) m (byk) (bull)
• Sardinian:
  Campidanese: boi m
  Logudorese: boe m
• Scottish Gaelic: damh m
• Serbo-Croatian:
  Cyrillic: во̑л m, во̑ m, би̏к m (bull)
  Latin: vȏl (sh) m, vȏ (sh) m, bȉk (sh) m (bull)
• Sicilian: voi (scn) m, jencu (scn) m
• Slovak: vôl (sk) m
• Slovene: vol (sl) m
• Sorbian:
  Lower Sorbian: woł m
  Upper Sorbian: woł m
• Spanish: buey (es) m, toro (es) m, novillo (es) m
• Swahili: ngʼombe
• Swedish: oxe (sv) c
• Tagalog: kapong baka
• Tajik: барзагов (tg) (barzagov)
• Tamil: காளை (ta) (kāḷai)
• Taos: mùoyaʼána, tùluʼúna
• Telugu: ఎద్దు (te) ? (eddu)
• Thai: วัว (th) (wuua), โค (th) (koo)
• Tibetan: གླང (glang)
• Tigrinya: ብዕራይ (ti) (bəʿray)
• Tok Pisin: bulmakau
• Turkish: öküz (tr)
  Ottoman Turkish: اۊكۏز (öküz)
• Ukrainian: віл (uk) m (vil), бик (uk) m (byk) (bull)
• Urdu: بَیل m (bail)
• Uzbek: bizon (uz), buyvol
• Vietnamese: bò (vi)
• Volapük: hobub (vo)
• Võro: härg
• Welsh: ych (cy) m
• Yiddish: אָקס m (oks)
• Zazaki: ga (diq)

Clipping of oxygen.

• O, O., OX, Ox., Ox, ox., OXY, Oxy, oxy, oxy.

ox (uncountable)

1. Abbreviation of oxygen.
   • 2020, Carla Perez, 42:40 from the start, in Breathtaking: K2 - The World's Most Dangerous Mountain | Eddie Bauer‎[1], YouTube, Eddie Bauer, archived from the original on 22 May 2020:
     I'm super excited to be on the summit of K2! No Ox! (coughs) It was hard.

• hydrolox

• kerolox

• methalox

• gox

• heliox

• lox

• nitrox

• triox

• XO, xo

Cognate with Old Turkic 𐰸 (q̊¹ /⁠oq⁠/, “arrow”), Chuvash ухӑ (uh̬ă), from Proto-Turkic *ok.

ox (definite accusative oxu, plural oxlar)

1. arrow
2. axis
3. axle

• oxatan
• oxluq
• “ox” in Obastan.com.
• ok
• oke (Gansu)

From Proto-Mongolic *ög-. Cognate to Mongolian өгөх (ögöx) and perhaps Khitan 𘲆 (*û).

• IPA(key): /ɵx/

ox

1. (Qinghai) to give
   Be Dromada samtexge oxgu tarang erna.
   I want to give a gift to Droma.

• ux
• ⟨𝋣⟩

ox

1. three

ox

1. three

ox

1. three

Related to 'o (“beyond”)

• IPA(key): /ɔx/, /ɔχ/

ox

1. off, away in a direction

• Kari, James et al. (2024), Kari, James, editor, Lower Tanana Dene Dictionary, Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, →ISBN, page 49

From Proto-Mayan *ʔoox-ibʼ.

ox

1. three

• Kaufman, Terrence; Justeson, John (2003), A Preliminary Mayan Etymological Dictionary‎[2], page 1465: “pM *7oox-ib'”

ox

1. alternative form of oxe

• hox, oix, oxe, oxx

Inherited from Early Scots ox, from Old English oxa, from Proto-West Germanic *ohsō, from Proto-Germanic *uhsô, from Proto-Indo-European *uksḗn.

• IPA(key): /ɔks/
• IPA(key): /ɔʊ̯s/ (possibly)

ox (plural oxin or owsyn)

1. ox (castrated bull)

• Scots: ouse (either from Middle Scots *owse or rebuilt on the plural owsyn)
• “ox”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [_et al._], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
• os

Borrowed from Arabic [script needed] (ušš).

• IPA(key): /ˈoʃ/ [ˈoʃ], /os/ [os]
• Rhymes: -oʃ, -os
• Syllabification: ox

ox

1. shoo

• “ox”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

ox

1. obsolete spelling of óox