Word
wether
UK/wˈɛðɐ/
Definitions
01castrated sheep or goat
n. a male sheep or goat that has had its sex organs removed.
n. a castrated male sheep or goat, typically one castrated before reaching sexual maturity.
“The farmer separated the wethers from the rest of the flock for the winter.”
“The shepherd noted that the wethers were generally more docile and easier to manage during the seasonal migration than the intact rams.”
Technical
Usage
The term is primarily used in livestock management and agricultural literature.
02to castrate
v. to remove the sex organs of a male sheep or goat.
v. to castrate a male sheep or goat.
“They decided to wether the young males to keep the herd calm.”
“Agricultural best practices suggest that if a farmer intends to wether their livestock, the procedure should be performed early in the animal's life.”
Technical
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English wether, wethir, wedyr, from Old English weþer (“a wether, ram”), from Proto-West Germanic weþru, from Proto-Germanic weþruz (“wether”), from Proto-Indo-European *wet- (“year”). Cognates Cognate with Scots weddir, woddir, wadder (“wether”), Dutch weder, weer (“wether”), German Widder (“wether, ram”), Norwegian Bokmål vær (“ram”), Norwegian Nynorsk vêr (“ram”), Swedish vädur (“wether, ram”), Icelandic veður (“wether, ram”), Latin vitulus (“calf”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.