pastern
/ˈpæstəɹn/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.62 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The part of a horse's leg between the fetlock joint and the hoof.
Example Sentences
- "It was quite impossible to ride over the deeply-ploughed field; the earth bore only where there was still a little ice, in the thawed furrows the horse's legs sank in above its pasterns."
- "Below me, somewhere in the horse-lines, stood Cockbird, picketed to a peg in the ground by a rope which was already giving him a sore pastern."
- "Upright he walks, on pasterns firm and straight; His motions easy; prancing in his gait So straight she walk'd, and on her pasterns high."
Etymology
From Middle English pastron, pastroun, pasturne, from Old French pasturon, diminutive of pasture (“shackle for a horse in pasture”), alteration of Late Latin pastōria after the suffix -ure.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: pastron, pasturon, pastōria
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpæstəɹn/
- British English: /ˈpæstən/