Skip to main content
weanling

weanling

1 7.2
A young animal that has just stopped drinking its mother's milk and now eats solid food
  • noun
  • /ˈwiːn.lɪŋ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : destetado
  • The farmer carefully introduced solid food to the weanling after weaning it from its mother.
  • a weanling calf

Examples

  • She was purchased for $20,000 as a weanling and for $150,000 as a yearling.

    Blog text (30)
  • He was purchased for $45,000 as a weanling, and is a half-brother to three winners, including grade I stakes-placed Pulsion.

    Blog text (9)
  • He was purchased for $130,000 as a weanling and for $190,000 as a yearling.

    Blog text (9)
  • Today's warm afternoon weather was welcome because we had to bathe, clip, and pull the manes on two more weanlings who will sell Thursday.

    Blog text (4)
  • And while there was general support throughout, we definitely saw a concentration on quality with regard to all types—broodmares, weanlings, and horses of racing age.

    Blog text (13)
  • She was purchased for $61,314 as a weanling and is a half-sister to 3 winners, including stakes winner Mabait, who earned $253,804 and was a winner at 2.

    Blog text (9)
  • Uptown Anthem was purchased for $27,000 as a weanling, for $18,000 as a yearling, and for $37,000 as a 2-year-old.

    Blog text (9)
  • A colt by War Front out of the Seeking the Gold mare Questress brought the sale's top price for a weanling, selling to John McCormack Bloodstock for $800,000.

    Blog text (13)
  • She sold for $175,000 as a weanling, and for $280,000 as a yearling, and is out of the winning mare Hi Lili, who has produced 2 winners from 3 to run.

    Blog text (30)
  • In spring, the weanlings began to explore the pasture as they adjusted to eating grass.

Synonyms

weaner
vsweanling
  • Specialized
6.8

A young animal that recently stopped drinking its mother's milk

focuses on the stage of beginning to eat solid food

Antonyms

182 2.8

Relying on someone else for help or support

How Young

adult
103 1.0
juvenile
176 4.2
weanling
  • Specialized
1 7.2
infant
411 1.0
newborn
12 1.0

Surface Forms

weanling singular
weanlings plural

Morphology

weanling = wean (transparent) = wean + ling

Formed from 'wean' (stop feeding on mother's milk) + the diminutive/young suffix '-ling', so the meaning 'a young recently weaned animal' is directly derivable.

Etymology

Weanling comes from the verb wean ('to stop feeding on the mother's milk') plus the small 'young one' ending -ling, the same ending you see in duckling. So a weanling is simply a young animal that has just been weaned and started eating solid food.