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Glite Dictionary
milking ability

milking ability

4.3
How much a female farm animal like a cow or goat can feed her young
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : capacidad de ordeño
  • Farmers often select cows for their exceptional milking ability.

Examples

  • Recent breeding has improved the milking ability of dairy goats.

  • Farmers often assess the milking ability of their livestock.

  • The award was given to the cow with the highest milking ability in the herd.

  • The cow's milking ability has improved this year.

  • Farmers often select cows for their exceptional milking ability.

  • Recent breeding has improved the milking ability of dairy goats.

  • The award was given to the cow with the highest milking ability in the herd.

Synonyms

milk yield
vsmilking ability
3.2

The amount of milk a cow or herd produces in a period

refers to the animal's potential to produce output rather than the measured amount

How Productive

milking ability
  • Specialized
4.3
milkless
1 3.2

Surface Forms

milking ability singular
milking abilities plural

Morphology

milk + ability

The meaning 'capacity to produce milk' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'milking' (the action or process related to milk) with 'ability' (capacity or capability). This is a straightforward compositional noun phrase following normal English word-formation and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reliably infer the meaning.

Etymology

The phrase milking ability comes from farm life, where people watched the animal while milking and noted its ability to give milk. That simple image—someone milking a cow and seeing how much it gives—explains why milking ability means the animal's 'ability to give milk' today.