Meanings
farrow1
plural farrows
- A litter of piglets.
She is the womb and the tomb: the sow that eats her farrow.
1949, Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces2 more examples
Aha! I know you, gammer! Hamlet, revenge! The old sow that eats her farrow!
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 15]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLCAt full speed he ran into a pigsty, where a sow was lying on her side with a farrow of eleven tugging at her.
1927, Henry William Williamson, Tarka the Otter, Chapter 19
farrow2
present singular third person farrows · participle present farrowing · participle past farrowed · past farrowed
- To give birth to (a litter of piglets).
The members of a particular family refuse to eat pig, because they owe their existence to a sow, which farrowed babies and little pigs at the same birth.
1918, James George Frazer, Folk-Lore In The Old Testament, volume 1, page 36
farrow3
Farrow4
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
farrow · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*perḱ-
- Proto-Indo-European*pórḱos
- Proto-Germanic*farhaz
- Proto-West Germanic*farh
- Old Englishfearh
- Middle English*farow
- Englishfarrow
From Middle English *farow, *fargh (found only in the plural faren), from Old English fearh (“piglet”), from Proto-West Germanic *farh, from Proto-Germanic *farhaz, from Proto-Indo-European *pórḱos, from *perḱ- (“to dig”). See also Old High German farah, Middle Irish orc (“piglet”), Latin porcus, Proto-Slavic *porsę (“pig, piglet”), Lithuanian par̃šas, Avestan: 𐬞𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬯𐬀 (pər^əsa). Doublet of pork.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →farrow · verb
- Middle Englishfarwen
- Englishfarrow
From Middle English farwen, from the noun.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Farrow · proper noun
Hypercorrected form of Farrar, where the original ending -ar was regarded as an error and consequently changed to -ow.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian прасило, опрасвам се
- прасило (prasilo)litter of piglets
- опрасвам се (oprasvam se)give birth to (a litter of piglets)
Catalan garrinada, garrinar
- garrinadalitter of piglets
- garrinargive birth to (a litter of piglets)
Czech vrh selat, oselit se
- vrh selatlitter of piglets
- oselit segive birth to (a litter of piglets)
- vrhnoutgive birth to (a litter of piglets)
- jalovánot pregnant; not calving in a given year; barren
Danish kuld, få grise
- kuldlitter of piglets
- få grisegive birth to (a litter of piglets)
- faregive birth to (a litter of piglets)
Finnish pahnue, porsia
- pahnuelitter of piglets
- porsiagive birth to (a litter of piglets)
German Wurf Ferkel, ferkeln
- Wurf Ferkellitter of piglets
- ferkelngive birth to (a litter of piglets)
- nicht trächtignot pregnant; not calving in a given year; barren
Italian figliare
- figliaregive birth to (a litter of piglets)
Norwegian Bokmål kull, kull grisunger
- kulllitter of piglets
- kull grisungerlitter of piglets
- grisegive birth to (a litter of piglets)
- få grisungergive birth to (a litter of piglets)
Polish miot prosiąt, prosić się
- miot prosiątlitter of piglets
- prosić sięgive birth to (a litter of piglets)
Portuguese ninhada de leitões, parir
- ninhada de leitõeslitter of piglets
- parirgive birth to (a litter of piglets)
Romanian făta
- fătagive birth to (a litter of piglets)
Russian опоро́с, пороси́ться
- опоро́с (oporós)litter of piglets
- пороси́ться (porosítʹsja)give birth to (a litter of piglets)
- опороси́ться (oporosítʹsja)give birth to (a litter of piglets)
- я́ловая (jálovaja)not pregnant; not calving in a given year; barren
Spanish lechigada (de cochinillos)
- lechigada (de cochinillos)litter of piglets
Swedish kull, grisa
- kulllitter of piglets
- grisagive birth to (a litter of piglets)
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with farrow
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Cite this entry
farrow. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/farrow
“farrow.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/farrow. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “farrow,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/farrow.
Source: farrow on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.