Bullock

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈbʊlək/

Definitions

1. A young male of the bovine species, often castrated for beef, can also denote a male raised for labor in agricultural contexts or referred to in historical livestock management practices
2. Referring to a male cattle that is immature, particularly one that is castrated, it can additionally describe such an animal utilized for work or farming tasks
3. A juvenile male cattle animal, commonly neutered, raised either for meat or farming tasks ; a bullock can also be a male bovine trained and employed to pull plows or carts in agriculture

Etymology: "Bullock" is a diminutive: it is built from "bull" plus the diminutive suffix "-ock", so it literally means "little bull." The suffix survives in a handful of other English words, such as "hillock" (a little hill) and "bullock" has a close relative in "hummock," though that one is less certain to share the suffix. The same pattern shows up in Old Dutch, where "bullok" carried the same sense, so the formation was shared across the early Germanic languages. The word's history is largely about the animal's status rather than its size. Early English used "bullock" for a young bull, and over time the term narrowed to the castrated animal kept for labour, which is why today it is most closely associated with draught and farm work. The shift from a simple age label to a description of a working, gelded animal reflects how farmers distinguished animals by their use as much as by their biology.

Synonyms: steer, castrated bull