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Glite Dictionary
Ovis aries

Ovis aries

7.7
A farm animal with thick wool kept for meat, wool, and skin
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : Ovis aries
  • The farm raises Ovis aries for both wool and meat production.

Examples

  • Research on Ovis aries genetics has led to improvements in sheep breeding.

  • The Ovis aries is known for its wool production.

  • A veterinarian explained that Ovis aries are highly adaptable animals found worldwide.

  • Many farmers raise Ovis aries for meat.

  • The farm raises Ovis aries for both wool and meat production.

  • Research on Ovis aries genetics has led to improvements in sheep breeding.

  • A veterinarian explained that Ovis aries are highly adaptable animals found worldwide.

Synonyms

domestic sheep
vsOvis aries
1.6

A farm animal kept for its wool, meat, or skin

is the formal scientific name used in biology for that animal

Surface Forms

Ovis aries singular
Ovis aries plural

Morphology

Ovis + aries

The element 'Ovis' explicitly refers to the genus of sheep and thus gives a clear clue that the expression names a sheep species, but the second element 'aries' is a Latin species epithet (not a recognizable English word here) and the binomial Latin naming convention is not a transparent English compositional pattern for a B1 learner. Because part of the meaning (that it is the domestic sheep) can be inferred from 'Ovis' but the full lexical sense relies on taxonomic/Latin knowledge that learners typically lack, the expression is only partially predictable.

Etymology

Ovis aries comes from Latin words: Ovis means 'sheep' and aries means 'ram', so the name literally labels the domestic animal kept for wool and meat.