Milch

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /mɪlt͡ʃ/

Definitions

1. A cow or other domesticated animal that is kept or bred for the purpose of producing milk
2. A term used to describe domesticated animals, especially cows, that are bred and cared for primarily to produce milk
3. An animal raised specifically to provide milk, typically a cow or similar livestock

Etymology: "Milch" is the older English word for a cow kept for its milk, and it is a close cousin of the word "milk" rather than a separate creation. Its ancestor was a Proto-Germanic adjective, "melkaz," meaning "milky" or "milk-giving," which means the word began as a description of a quality rather than a noun for the animal itself. Its Old English form, "melċe," survives in the compound "þrimilċe," the name of a month, "þrimilċemōnaþ," that referred to the time when cows were milked three times a day. The word arrived in Middle English as "mylche" or "melche," and it still carries that adjectival job in modern English, where it describes animals bred for milk, as in "milch cow." Its relatives across the Germanic languages show the same pattern: German "melk" and Icelandic "mjólkur" both mean milk-giving, and the German word for a dairy-related adjective, "milchig," comes from the same root, showing how closely the two sides of the family remained linked.

Synonyms: dairy, lactating