bovid

noun

bo·​vid ˈbō-vəd How to pronounce bovid (audio)
: any of a family (Bovidae) of ruminants that have hollow unbranched permanently attached horns present in usually both sexes and that include antelopes, oxen, sheep, and goats

Examples of bovid in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web More than 11 feet high, the stone was found underground above a burial, according to the study, and was marked by the carving of a sacrificed bovid, as if it was draped on top of the stone. Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 4 June 2024 The sacrificed bovid found on the dragon stone also points toward a possible cultural death instead of a natural one, according to the study. Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 4 June 2024 But bovids have fashioned a pastoral landscape that a hiker would recognize in crossing northern England, a place that cows and sheep have kept clear for centuries. WIRED, 26 Aug. 2023 In 2017, a second statue depicting a girl standing her ground was set in front of the bovid, creating a spectacular tableau. Jonathon Keats, Forbes, 25 Apr. 2022 The few other bones in the cave came from various bovid species, a fox, and even some baboons (which forage in the high grasslands of the Ethiopian plateau and sleep on cliffside ledges). Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 9 Aug. 2019 Heller’s connections in Denmark gave the group access to a huge tissue collection, including from dozens of wild bovids, but Heller says some of them proved impossible to extract enough DNA to sequence. Megan Molteni, WIRED, 20 June 2019 Wildebeests on the Serengeti do not have the luxury of hiding their young like forest-dwelling deer—out in the sunshine and short grass, the big bovids and their offspring are constantly exposed. Ryan P. Smith, Smithsonian, 11 July 2018 At European sites in Italy, Belgium, France, and central Europe, notched marks like these have been found on antlers, tusks and teeth, ribs, limbs, and other bones from reindeer, red deer, mammoth, and several bovid species. Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 1 May 2018

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bovid.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

New Latin Bovidae, from Bov-, Bos, type genus, from Latin bov-, bos

First Known Use

circa 1889, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of bovid was circa 1889

Dictionary Entries Near bovid

Cite this Entry

“Bovid.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bovid. Accessed 27 Jun. 2024.

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