Cowhands

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person employed to manage cattle and assist with their care on ranches and farms
2. An individual who handles livestock, often involved in herding and cattle-driving tasks in rural areas
3. Someone skilled in the handling and tending of cows, typically working in a ranching environment

Etymology: "Cowhands" is the plural of "cowhand", a compound of "cow" and "hand". Its literal sense is simply a hand who works with cows, and the "hand" in it is the old English word for a laborer or worker, as in "farmhand" or "deckhand." That sense of "hand" as a person employed to do manual work has been part of the language for centuries, so the compound describes a worker defined by the animals in his charge. The plural form simply names more than one such worker, following the regular English pattern of adding "-s" to a count noun.

Synonyms: cowboys, herders, ranchers