What does mare mean?
A mare is an adult female horse, a designation especially associated with breeding, racing, and working animals. The related term “filly” usually refers to a young female horse, while “mare” generally denotes an adult. In older, literary, and some legal contexts, the same word can mean a large body of salt water, though this sense is now uncommon in ordinary speech. The contrast between the two meanings makes the word unusually memorable: it can refer both to a familiar domestic animal and, archaically, to something vast and uncontrollable. In modern usage, the horse sense is overwhelmingly dominant, and speakers distinguish a mare from a stallion, the adult male counterpart. The sea sense survives mainly in elevated prose and historical language.
An adult female horse.
"A veterinarian examined the pregnant mare before the foaling season."
This is the standard modern sense. “Filly” ordinarily refers to a young female horse.
A large body of salt water.
"The poem portrays the mare as a restless and dangerous realm."
This sense is archaic or literary and also occurs in specialized legal usage.
The standard plural is “mares,” used for multiple adult female horses.
"Several mares grazed beside the river."
One unassuming word carries two very different ideas: a female horse and, in older English, the boundless sea.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does mare come from?
The two senses of “mare” have separate origins. The horse sense appears in Old English as mære and continued through Middle English, although its deeper prehistory is uncertain and it is not connected with the word for the sea. The sea sense comes from Old English mere, meaning “sea,” and belongs to a Germanic family that also includes “mermaid”; related words such as “marine” and “submarine” ultimately derive from the Latin word mare.
How mare is actually used
In modern everyday English, a mare almost always means an adult female horse; the sea sense is chiefly literary, archaic, or specialized. The two senses have distinct historical origins.