Word.ws English Dictionary

herdess

herdess noun: a shepherdess; a female herder.

Noun

herdess (plural herdesses)

  1. A shepherdess; a female herder.
    • She is the herdess fair that shines in dark,
      And gives her kids no food, but willows barka. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London...

Forms of herdess

pluralherdesses

Origin of herdess

From herd + -ess.

Questions about herdess

What does herdess mean?
Herdess means a shepherdess; a female herder.
What part of speech is herdess?
Herdess is a noun.
What is the plural of herdess?
The plural of herdess is herdesses.

Words near herdess in the dictionary

  1. herder
  2. Herderian
  3. herderite
  4. Herdern
  5. herders
  6. herdess
  7. herdesses
  8. herdful
  9. herdgroom
  10. herdgrooms
  11. herdic

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: herdess (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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