Word.ws English Dictionary

oxen

Syllables: ox·enUK/ˈɒksən//ˈɑksən/

oxen is the plural of ox.

Meaning of ox

Noun

ox (plural oxen or (nonstandard) oxes)

  1. An adult castrated male of cattle (B. taurus), especially when used as a beast of burden.
    • a yoke of oxen
    Synonyms:
    bullock, steer
  2. 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

See all 5 meanings of ox

Adjective

oxen (not comparable)

  1. Of, relating to, or resembling an ox; oxlike
    • These included the adze, saws of different sizes with, very likely, different size teeth or cutting edges, axe, chisels of various sizes, drills with various size drill bits, a square, plumb line, hammer, maul, and awl, plus a sharpening stone of slate and an oxen horn used as an oil flask.2010, Gayle A. McCoy, GOD’S GOLDEN BOX: The Ark of the Covenant - Page 100
    • He also had a tail like an oxen tail only with a razor sharp bard that he used in conflict to stab or slice his victims.2013, Michael Wayne Snider, Memoirs of a Dragon Slayer - Page 22

Origin of oxen

From Middle English oxen, from Old English oxan, from Proto-West Germanic *ohsan, from Proto-Germanic *uhsniz, nominative and accusative plural of *uhsô (“ox”), equivalent to ox + -en (plural ending).

Words formed from oxen

Phrases with oxen

Questions about oxen

What does oxen mean?
Oxen means of, relating to, or resembling an ox; oxlike.
What is oxen the plural of?
Oxen is the plural of ox.
What part of speech is oxen?
Oxen is an adjective.
How do you pronounce oxen?
Oxen is pronounced /ˈɑksən/ (US).

Words near oxen in the dictionary

  1. oxeiai
  2. oxeladin
  3. oxelip
  4. oxelips
  5. Oxelösund
  6. oxen
  7. Oxenbridge
  8. Oxenbridges
  9. Oxendale
  10. Oxendine
  11. Oxendines

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: oxen (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-us-oxen.ogg.

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