ruminant
/ˈɹuːmɪnənt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.09 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
noun
Any artiodactyl ungulate mammal which chews cud in the suborder Ruminantia, such as cattle or deer.
Example Sentences
- "1927, G. K. Chesterton, "[https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/g-k-chesterton/the-secret-of-father-brown/text/the-red-moon-of-meru The Red Moon of Meru", in The Secret of Father Brown “I wonder what a paradox is,” remarked the priest in a ruminant manner."
- "Flesh behind steel and glass is unprotected From enemies that whisper to the blood; The scratch forgotten is the scratch infected; The ruminant, reason, chews a poisoned cud."
Etymology
From Latin rūmināns, rūminantem, present participle of rūminārī (“to chew the cud, ruminate”), from rūmen (“throat, gullet, rumen (first stomach of a ruminant)”).