ox
UK/ɒks/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ɔks/
ox noun: an adult castrated male of cattle (B. taurus), especially when used as a beast of burden. Also the abbreviation of oxygen.
Noun
ox (plural oxen or (nonstandard) oxes)
- An adult castrated male of cattle (B. taurus), especially when used as a beast of burden.
- a yoke of oxen
- Any bovine animal (genus Bos).
- Here the same four kinds are mentioned ... These are sheep, goats, camels and oxen.1934, commentary on the Qur'an (Sura 39 verse 6) by Abdullah Yusuf Ali
- Synonyms:
- neat
Proper noun capitalized: Ox
Ox
Also used as
ox is also the abbreviation of oxygen.
ox meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
ox in Hindi
- an adult castrated male of cattle
- बैल bail
- any bovine animal used as a beast of burden
- बैल bail
ox in Tamil
- any bovine animal used as a beast of burden
- காளை kāḷai
ox in Marathi
- an adult castrated male of cattle
- बैल bail
ox in Urdu
- an adult castrated male of cattle
- بَیل bail
- any bovine animal used as a beast of burden
- بَیل bail
More languagesFewer languages
- ox in Telugu
- ఎద్దు eddu
- ox in Tagalog
- kapong baka
- ox in Arabic
- ثَوْر ṯawr
- ox in Indonesian
- lembu
- ox in Thai
- วัว wuua, โค koo
- ox in Vietnamese
- bò đực thiến, bò
Examples of ox in a sentence
- He treated the oxen like they didn't exist, but he treated the goat kid like a puppy.
- The cove has hushed the battner; i.e. has killed the ox.
- As the day draws on, the oxen will begin to show fatigue.
Synonyms of ox
Forms of ox
| plural | oxen |
|---|---|
| alternative form | O |
| alternative form | O. |
| alternative form | OX |
| alternative form | Ox. |
| alternative form | Ox |
| alternative form | ox. |
| alternative form | OXY |
| alternative form | Oxy |
| alternative form | oxy |
| alternative form | oxy. |
| plural (nonstandard) | oxes |
Origin of ox
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).
Clipping of oxygen.
(constellation): Semantic loan from Chinese 牛宿 (Niúxiù). : (surname): From ox, the animal. : (Oxford): Clipping
Words formed from ox
- 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
- know someone from Adam's off ox
- musk-ox
- musk ox
- near ox
- nox
- off ox
- one hair of a woman can draw more than a hundred pair of oxen
- oxback
- oxbane
- ox beetle
- ox bile
- oxbird
- ox-biter
- oxblood
- oxbow
- ox bow
- ox-butt
- oxcart
- ox-eye
- oxeye
- ox-eyed
- ox-eye daisy
- oxflesh
- oxfly
- Oxford
- ox gall
- oxgall
- oxgang
- oxgate
- oxgoad
- oxhead
- oxheart
- oxherd
- Oxhey
- oxhide
- oxhind
- oxhorn
- oxish
- ox is in the ditch
- oxkind
- ox knee
- oxland
- oxless
- oxlike
- oxling
- oxpecker
- ox pith
- ox ray
- oxshoe
- oxskin
- oxtail
- oxteam
Phrases with ox
Words that rhyme with ox
Questions about ox
- What does ox mean?
- Ox means an adult castrated male of cattle (B. taurus), especially when used as a beast of burden.
- What is ox in Hindi?
- Ox in Hindi is बैल (bail). See Ox meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is ox?
- Ox can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce ox?
- Ox is pronounced /ɒks/ (UK).
- What is the plural of ox?
- The plural of ox is oxen.
Words near ox in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ox (page history and authors); Ox (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-ca-ox.oga.
Cite this entry: “ox.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ox. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.