ox
/ɔks/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.47 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
2
Letters
1
Syllables
2
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An adult castrated male of cattle (B. taurus), especially when used as a beast of burden.
name
A Chinese constellation located near Capricorn, one of the 28 lunar mansions and part of the larger Black Turtle.
name
The second of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
Etymology
From Middle English oxe, from Old English oxa, from Proto-West Germanic *ohsō, from Proto-Germanic *uhsô (compare West Frisian okse, Dutch os, German Ochse), from Proto-Indo-European *uksḗn. Cognate with Welsh ych (“ox”), Tocharian A ops, Tocharian B okso (“draft-ox”), Avestan 𐬎𐬑𐬱𐬀𐬥 (uxšan, “bull”), Sanskrit उ॒क्षन् (ukṣán).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: oxe, oxa, *ohsō, *uhsô, *uksḗn
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɔks/
- British English: /ɒks/
Usage
Inflected Forms
oxen (plural)
oxes (nonstandard, plural)
O (alternative)
O. (alternative)
Ox. (alternative)
OXY (alternative)
oxy. (alternative)
Derived Forms
Phrases
dumb as an ox
Durham Ox
grey ox
grunting ox
have the black ox tread on one's foot
Indian ox
Japanese ox
Javan ox