What does kine mean?
Kine is an irregular English plural of cow, normally found in archaic, literary, biblical, or deliberately antiquarian contexts. Rather than saying “cows,” a speaker may use “the kine” to refer collectively to cattle. The form is unusual today because it preserves an old plural pattern instead of taking the ordinary English suffix -s. Its sound is the same as that of mine, and its historical relatives include German Kuh and Dutch koe, all descended from the same Germanic ancestor for “cow.” In modern writing, kine is most likely to appear in poetry, historical texts, dialogue meant to sound old-fashioned, or phrases evoking pastoral life. In ordinary conversation, cattle or cows is clearer and more idiomatic. Kine is valuable to a modern reader chiefly as a piece of living linguistic history: a plural that once carried everyday meaning and now survives at the edge of standard usage, where it can lend a particular tone of antiquity, rusticity, or solemnity to a sentence.
nounThe archaic plural of cow, used collectively for cattle and now encountered mainly in literary, biblical, or deliberately antiquarian writing.
- The archaic plural of cow, used collectively to mean cattle.
"The kine grazed quietly in the meadow beyond the ancient stone wall."
"The kine grazed quietly in the meadow beyond the ancient stone wall."
"By the time the storm arrived, the kine had been brought safely into the byre."
Kine is already an irregular plural and does not take an additional -s.
"The kine were counted at the end of the harvest."
Kine is a plural that refuses the modern -s, preserving a piece of English from the time when “cows” could still be “kine.”
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does kine come from?
Kine descends from Old English cȳne, the irregular plural of cū, meaning “cow.” The Middle English form kyne also occurred, and the word retains the inherited n-stem plural pattern rather than the modern regular -s. Its Germanic cognates include German Kuh, Dutch koe, Swedish ko, and Icelandic kú, all reflecting Proto-Germanic *kū.
How kine is actually used
Kine is not normally used in neutral contemporary speech. Writers may choose it for its historical, pastoral, biblical, or antiquarian associations, though cattle or cows is more idiomatic in ordinary contexts.
Easily confused with kine
Kine means cows or cattle, whereas kin means one's relatives.