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Glite Dictionary
farrowing

farrowing

9.7
A mother pig gives birth to a group of piglets
  • noun
  • /ˈfɛroʊɪŋ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : parto
  • I've been on farms, I've been in farrowing sheds, I've seen, I've held dead piglets in my hands.

Examples

  • During farrowing, the sow will give birth to several piglets in a single litter.

  • The brood sows remain in a sow unit for breeding, gestation, and farrowing.

    Academic text (1997)

  • The farmer watched as the sow began the farrowing process in the pen.

  • After a few hours of farrowing, the barn was filled with the sounds of newborn piglets.

Synonyms

farrow
vsfarrowing
  • Specialized
30 9.9

A mother pig giving birth to a group of piglets

focuses on the act of a mother pig giving birth to a litter

Surface Forms

farrowing singular
farrowings plural

Morphology

farrowing = farrow (transparent) = farrow + ing

A regular deverbal nominalization: 'farrow' (verb) + '-ing' yields the action or event of giving birth.

Etymology

Farrowing comes from the older English word farrow, which means 'a litter of pigs' or 'a group of newborn piglets'. So farrowing is simply the sow making a farrow — in other words, giving birth to her piglets.