farrow

See also: Farrow

English

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfæɹəʊ/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfæɹoʊ/, /ˈfɛɹoʊ/
  • Audio (General American):(file)
  • Rhymes: -æɹəʊ
  • Hyphenation: farr‧ow
  • Homophone: pharaoh (one pronunciation)

Etymology 1

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *perḱ-
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Proto-Indo-European *pórḱos
Proto-Germanic *farhaz
Proto-West Germanic *farh
Old English fearh
Middle English *farow
English farrow

    From Middle English *farow, *fargh (found only in the plural faren), from Old English fearh (“piglet”), from Proto-West Germanic *farh, from Proto-Germanic *farhaz, from Proto-Indo-European *pórḱos, from *perḱ- (“to dig”).

    See also Old High German farah, Middle Irish orc (“piglet”), Latin porcus, Proto-Slavic *porsę (“pig, piglet”), Lithuanian par̃šas, Avestan: 𐬞𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬯𐬀 (pərəsa). Doublet of pork.

    Noun

    farrow (plural farrows)

    1. A litter of piglets.
    Translations

    Etymology 2

    From Middle English farwen, from the noun.

    Verb

    farrow (third-person singular simple present farrows, present participle farrowing, simple past and past participle farrowed)

    1. To give birth to (a litter of piglets).
      • 1918, James George Frazer, Folk-Lore In The Old Testament, volume 1, page 36:
        The members of a particular family refuse to eat pig, because they owe their existence to a sow, which farrowed babies and little pigs at the same birth.
    Derived terms
    Translations

    Etymology 3

    Cognate with Old English fearr (“bull”).

    Adjective

    farrow (not comparable)

    1. (of cows) Not pregnant; not producing young (not calving) in a given season or year; barren.
    Translations
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