Littermate

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An animal that was born alongside others in the same birthing event, sharing both parentage and early growth experiences
2. An individual animal born from the same mother during a single birthing event with others
3. One of multiple offspring born simultaneously to the same parent or parents

Etymology: A littermate is a fairly plain compound: "litter" joined to "-mate." The "litter" part traces back through Middle English "litere" and Anglo-Norman "litere" to Old French "litiere," a bed or couch, which came from Late Latin "lectuaria," a bed-related word built from Latin "lectus," meaning couch or bed. So the earliest sense of "litter" was a resting place, and only later did it come to mean a stretch of straw for animals and then the brood born at one time. The second element, "-mate," comes from Middle English "mate," which descends from Proto-Germanic "matjô" and the Old Saxon and Middle Low German forms "gimato" and "mate." The older sense was a companion or fellow who shares a meal or table, the same idea that appears in "messmate" and "shipmate." Attaching "mate" to "litter" gives a term for an animal sharing the same birth with you, a companion of the same litter.

Synonyms: sibling, brother, sister, offspring, puppy