Bovinae

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A subfamily of the Bovidae family that includes domesticated cattle and wild relatives like bison and buffalo
2. A taxonomic grouping of cloven-hoofed mammals characterized by hollow horns, commonly including cattle types
3. An evolutionary branch of ruminants within which species such as cows and buffaloes share common traits and ancestry

Etymology: "Bovinae" is a scientific name, a subfamily label within the family Bovidae, so it was coined by zoologists rather than passed down through everyday speech. Its base is Latin "bos", meaning ox or cow, which also gave English "bovine". Latin "bovinus" meant "of or like an ox." The ending "-inae" is the standard suffix for subfamily names in zoological classification. Such names are built from the stem of a type genus, and the type genus here is "Bos", which gives the stem "Bov-". The subfamily includes true cattle, along with buffaloes, bison, yaks and their close relatives.

Synonyms: cattle subfamily, bovids