cattle (English)

Where does "cattle" come from?

The word 'cattle' stems from the Latin 'capitālis,' meaning 'of the head,' which evolved from 'caput' (head) and was once used to measure wealth by counting individual livestock. Through Medieval Latin and Anglo-Norman, 'catel' came to refer to personal property, eventually branching into the distinct English words 'cattle' (as livestock) and its doublet 'chattel' (as movable property). This historical connection between 'heads' and units of wealth is reflected in many languages, where a person's fortune was often literally tallied by the number of animals they owned.

Full etymology tree

cattle (English), 'Domesticated animal of the species Bos taurus (cows, bulls, steers, oxen etc), and other hoofed mammals of the genus Bos.'
- inherited catel (Middle English), 'Property, as distinguished from rent or income.'
  - borrowed catel (Anglo-Norman)
    - inherited catel (Old French), 'alternative form of chatel'
      - inherited capitāle (Latin), 'capital crime'
        derived capitālis (Latin), 'of the head or life'
        affix caput (Latin), 'The head. (of human and animals)'
        inherited *kaput (Proto-Italic), 'head'
        inherited *káput (Proto-Indo-European), 'head'
        derived *kap- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to seize, to grab'
        affix -ālis (Latin), 'Suffixed to nouns or numerals creating adjectives of relationship.'
        inherited *-ālis (Proto-Italic), 'Forms adjectives of relationship.'

Direct ancestors

Updated June 2026

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris