Word.ws English Dictionary

hircine

/ˈhɜːsaɪn/US/ˈhɝsaɪn/

hircine adjective: of, pertaining to, or characteristic of goats.

Adjective

hircine (comparative more hircine, superlative most hircine)

  1. (not comparable, book word) Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of goats.
    • They are monſtrouſly fat, and have a moſt hircine ſmell.1781, Thomas Pennant, History of Quadrupeds, volume 2, page 528
    • Many are objects of ornament, but they are little cultivated because they have frequently a disagreeable hircine odour.1838, Hypericaceæ, entry in The Penny Cyclopaedia, Volume 12, page 411
  2. Possessed of an odour reminiscent of goats.
    Synonyms:
    goaty, hircinous, hircose
  3. Libidinous; lustful.

Noun

hircine (uncountable)

  1. A fossil amorphous resin which, when burnt, gives off a pungent, hircinous aroma.
    Synonyms:
    hircite

hircine meaning in Bengali and Arabic

hircine in Bengali

ছাগলের মতো দুর্গন্ধযুক্ত

hircine in Arabic

of, pertaining to, or characteristic of goats
مَعَزِيّ maʕaziyy, مَعْزِيّ maʕziyy

Examples of hircine in a sentence

  • People always smiled a little when they looked at Skøieren, and it was surely true that this dog had a most whimsical appearance, practically lost as he was in the depths of his hircine coat of fur.1992, Helge Ingstad, Land of Feast and Famine, page 291:
  • Linnæus formed seven classes of odours of medicines; namely, the aromatic, fragrant, ambrosiac, alliaceous, hircine, fetid, and nauseous.1820, J. J. Virsey, The Natural History of Medicines, Aliments and Poisons, taken from the Kingdoms of Nature: The London Medical and...

Synonyms of hircine

2 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of hircine

Forms of hircine

comparativemore hircine
superlativemost hircine
alternative form (rare)hirquine

Origin of hircine

First attested in its present form in 1650–1660: From Middle English hircyne, from Latin hircīnus (“of a goat”, “goat-scented”); equivalent to hircus (“a male goat”) + -īnus (“-ine”). Cognate with French hircin. By surface analysis, hirc- (“buck, male goat”) + -ine. Compare caprine, haedine.

Words formed from hircine

Questions about hircine

What does hircine mean?
Hircine means of, pertaining to, or characteristic of goats.
What is hircine in Bengali?
Hircine in Bengali is ছাগলের মতো দুর্গন্ধযুক্ত. See Hircine meaning in Bengali.
How do you use hircine in a sentence?
People always smiled a little when they looked at Skøieren, and it was surely true that this dog had a most whimsical appearance, practically lost as he was in the depths of his hircine coat of fur.
What part of speech is hircine?
Hircine can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce hircine?
Hircine is pronounced /ˈhɜːsaɪn/ (UK).

Words near hircine in the dictionary

  1. hircarras
  2. hircars
  3. hircic
  4. hircic acid
  5. hircin
  6. hircine
  7. hircinous
  8. hircismus
  9. hircocervus
  10. hircose
  11. hircosity

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hircine (page history and authors); hircine (Bengali Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-hircine.wav.

Cite this entry: “hircine.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hircine. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.