Whelps

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Young offspring of certain animals, particularly dogs
2. to give birth to or produce young, especially in the context of canine breeding
3. a term used to describe young individuals in a pack that are still dependent on adults

Etymology: "Whelps" is the plural of "whelp", a noun for the young of certain animals, especially dogs, and also a verb meaning to give birth to young, as a dog does. The noun reaches back to Old English "hwelp", which descends from a Proto-Germanic form shared with German "Welpe", Dutch "welp" and Old Norse "hvelpr", so the family of related words is broad across the Germanic languages. Its earlier ancestry is traced to a pre-Germanic form, though the origin of that form is uncertain. The verb is built directly on the noun. Middle English "whelpen" came from Old English "hwelpian", itself derived from "hwelp", so giving birth and the offspring share one root from the start. The word has also had a variant spelling, "welp", which shows how the same term was written in more than one way over time.