horseshoe

H4O1R1S1E1S1H4O1E1
UK/ˈhɔːs.ʃuː/UK, colloquial/ˈhɔː.ʃuː/US/ˈhɔːɹs.ʃuː/US/ˈhɔːɹ.ʃuː/

noun

The U-shaped shoe of a horse, now typically made of metal; by extension, a representation of this used to play the game horseshoes, hung as a luck charm, etc.

“the horseshoe of the Carpathians”

Similar
Less commonScrabble 15

Meanings

horseshoe1

nounhorseshoe (plural horseshoes)

plural horseshoes

  1. The U-shaped shoe of a horse, now typically made of metal; by extension, a representation of this used to play the game horseshoes, hung as a luck charm, etc.

    Each player has a turn at tossing his horseshoes, one at a time, at the stob opposite him. His opponent then throws his horseshoes.

    1997, Francis Edward Abernethy, editor, Texas toys and games, page 142
    2 more examples

    And what has been thus affirmed of other leading commodities; the blacksmith, for example, no longer making, but buying his horseshoes, nails, nuts, and bolts;

    1887, David A. Wells, "The Economic Disturbances since 1873", III, Popular Science 31 (no. 37): 595

    The ancient Romans [...] used leather horseshoes; the Chinese made straw sandals for their mounts; and American Indians used leather moccasins, which they tied around their horses ' ankles. In days of old, people took their horses to the smithy to be shod.

    1984, Leda Blumberg, The Horselover's Handbook: An Introduction to Owning, Caring For, and Riding Horses, →ISBN, page 46
  2. The U shape of a horseshoe.

    the horseshoe of the Carpathians

    2 more examples

    If there are no missing teeth and tooth alignment is good, two opposing well-defined horseshoes are seen. If, however, your denitition is mal-aligned or is missing anterior teeth, this pattern too should be reflected in the bite mark.

    2005, Stuart H. James, Jon J. Nordby (editors), Forensic science: an introduction to scientific and investigative techniques, page 88

    Whereas the railway heads inland to take the easier but much longer horseshoe-shaped route around the firth, the A9 directly crosses it from north to south on a bridge built in 1991.

    2021 October 20, Paul Stephen, “Leisure and pleasure on the Far North Line”, in RAIL, number 942, page 49
  3. slangbodybuildingA well-developed set of triceps brachii muscles.

    The lateral head of your triceps forms the outside of the horseshoe, the long head forms the inside, the medial head lies beneath the long head, and the tendon occupies the flat space in the middle.

    2004, Ellington Darden, The New High-Intensity Training, page 58
  4. human sciencesThe symbol ⊃.
  5. An open-faced sandwich originating from Springfield, Illinois, consisting of thick-sliced toasted bread, often Texas toast, a hamburger patty, French fries, and a cheese sauce.
  6. A U-shaped life buoy.
verbhorseshoe (third-person singular simple present horseshoes, present participle horseshoeing, simple past and past participle horseshoed or horseshod)

present singular third person horseshoes · participle present horseshoeing · participle past horseshoed · past horseshoed · participle past horseshod · past horseshod

  1. transitiveTo apply horseshoes to (a horse).

    Synonyms: shoe

Horseshoe2

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo apply horseshoes to (a horse).

Similar

More synonyms by meaning

nounU-shaped plate nailed to underside of horse's hoof

Similar
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Middle Englishhorsscho
  2. Middle Englishhorsscho
  3. Englishhorseshoe

Calks (identified by the letter "C" on the shown horseshoe) consist of spur-point and a shank to form an antislipping device. Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós? Proto-Indo-European *h₁wers-? Proto-Indo-European *wers- Proto-Indo-European *-ḗn Proto-Indo-European *wérsēn Proto-Indo-Iranian *(w)ŕ̥šā Proto-Iranian *(w)ŕ̥šāder.? Proto-Germanic *hrussą Proto-West Germanic *hross Old English hors Middle English hors Proto-Germanic *skōhaz Proto-West Germanic *skōh Old English sċōh Middle English scho Middle English horsscho English horseshoe Inherited from Middle English horsscho, from hors + scho. By surface analysis, horse + shoe.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans hoefyster
  • hoefystermetallic shoe of a horse
Arabic حَدْوَة, حِدْوَة
  • حَدْوَة (ḥadwa)metallic shoe of a horse
  • حِدْوَة (ḥidwa)metallic shoe of a horse
  • نَعْل (naʕl)metallic shoe of a horse
Basque ferra
  • ferrametallic shoe of a horse
Bengali নাল
  • নাল (nal)metallic shoe of a horse
Bulgarian подко́ва, подковавам
  • подко́ва (podkóva)metallic shoe of a horse
  • подковавам (podkovavam)to apply horseshoes to a horse
Catalan ferradura, ferrar
  • ferradurametallic shoe of a horse
  • ferrarto apply horseshoes to a horse
Chinese Mandarin 馬掌 /马掌, 馬蹄鐵 /马蹄铁
  • 馬掌 /马掌 (mǎzhǎng)metallic shoe of a horse
  • 馬蹄鐵 /马蹄铁 (mǎtítiě)metallic shoe of a horse
  • 馬蹄 /马蹄 (mǎtí)metallic shoe of a horse
Czech podkova, podkova
  • podkovametallic shoe of a horse
  • podkovashape of a horseshoe
  • podkovatto apply horseshoes to a horse
  • okovatto apply horseshoes to a horse
Danish hestesko, sko
  • hesteskometallic shoe of a horse
  • skoto apply horseshoes to a horse
Dutch hoefijzer, hoefijzer
  • hoefijzermetallic shoe of a horse
  • hoefijzershape of a horseshoe
Esperanto huffero, hufofero
  • hufferometallic shoe of a horse
  • hufoferometallic shoe of a horse
  • hufumometallic shoe of a horse
Estonian hobuseraud
  • hobuseraudmetallic shoe of a horse
Finnish hevosenkenkä, hevosenkenkä
  • hevosenkenkämetallic shoe of a horse
  • hevosenkenkäshape of a horseshoe
  • hevosenkenkäbodybuilding: well-developed set of triceps brachii
  • kengittääto apply horseshoes to a horse
French fer à cheval, fer à cheval
  • fer à chevalmetallic shoe of a horse
  • fer à chevalshape of a horseshoe
  • ferrerto apply horseshoes to a horse
German Hufeisen, Beschlag
  • Hufeisenmetallic shoe of a horse
  • Beschlagmetallic shoe of a horse
  • beschlagento apply horseshoes to a horse
Greek πέταλο, πεταλώνω
  • πέταλο (pétalo)metallic shoe of a horse
  • πεταλώνω (petalóno)to apply horseshoes to a horse
Hawaiian kāmaʻa hao, kapuaʻihao lio
  • kāmaʻa haometallic shoe of a horse
  • kapuaʻihao liometallic shoe of a horse
Hebrew פַּרְסָה
  • פַּרְסָה (parsá)metallic shoe of a horse
Hindi नाल, खुरप
  • नाल (nāl)metallic shoe of a horse
  • खुरप (khurap)metallic shoe of a horse
  • अश्वनाल (aśvanāl)metallic shoe of a horse
Hungarian patkó, lópatkó
  • patkómetallic shoe of a horse
  • lópatkómetallic shoe of a horse
  • patkóshape of a horseshoe
  • patkolto apply horseshoes to a horse
Icelandic skeifa, járna
  • skeifametallic shoe of a horse
  • járnato apply horseshoes to a horse
Indonesian tapal kuda, ladam
  • tapal kudametallic shoe of a horse
  • ladammetallic shoe of a horse
Irish crú
  • crúmetallic shoe of a horse
Italian ferro di cavallo, ferro di cavallo
  • ferro di cavallometallic shoe of a horse
  • ferro di cavalloshape of a horseshoe
Japanese 蹄鉄, 馬蹄
  • 蹄鉄 (teitetsu)metallic shoe of a horse
  • 馬蹄 (batei)shape of a horseshoe
Korean 편자
  • 편자 (pyeonja)metallic shoe of a horse
Latin solea ferrea, ferrum equōrum
  • solea ferreametallic shoe of a horse
  • ferrum equōrummetallic shoe of a horse
Latvian pakavs, pakavs
  • pakavsmetallic shoe of a horse
  • pakavsshape of a horseshoe
Lithuanian pasaga
  • pasagametallic shoe of a horse
Malay ladam
  • ladammetallic shoe of a horse
Māori haeana
  • haeanametallic shoe of a horse
Norwegian Bokmål hestesko, hestesko
  • hesteskometallic shoe of a horse
  • hesteskoshape of a horseshoe
  • skoto apply horseshoes to a horse
Persian نعل اسب, نعل
  • نعل اسب (na'l-e asb)metallic shoe of a horse
  • نعل (na'l)metallic shoe of a horse
  • بشک (bašk)metallic shoe of a horse
Polish podkowa, podkowa
  • podkowametallic shoe of a horse
  • podkowashape of a horseshoe
  • podkuwaćto apply horseshoes to a horse
  • podkućto apply horseshoes to a horse
  • kućto apply horseshoes to a horse
Portuguese ferradura, ferradura
  • ferradurametallic shoe of a horse
  • ferradurashape of a horseshoe
  • ferrarto apply horseshoes to a horse
Romanian potcoavă, potcoavă
  • potcoavămetallic shoe of a horse
  • potcoavăshape of a horseshoe
  • potcovito apply horseshoes to a horse
Russian подко́ва, подко́ва
  • подко́ва (podkóva)metallic shoe of a horse
  • подко́ва (podkóva)shape of a horseshoe
  • подмно́жество (podmnóžestvo)logic: the symbol ⊃
  • подко́вывать (podkóvyvatʹ)to apply horseshoes to a horse
  • подкова́ть (podkovátʹ)to apply horseshoes to a horse
Scottish Gaelic crudha, crudhaich
  • crudhametallic shoe of a horse
  • crudhaichto apply horseshoes to a horse
Slovak podkova
  • podkovametallic shoe of a horse
Spanish herradura, casquillo
  • herradurametallic shoe of a horse
  • casquillometallic shoe of a horse
  • herrajemetallic shoe of a horse
  • ferradura (disused)metallic shoe of a horse
  • herradurashape of a horseshoe
  • herrarto apply horseshoes to a horse
Swedish hästsko, hästsko
  • hästskometallic shoe of a horse
  • hästskoshape of a horseshoe
  • skoto apply horseshoes to a horse
Tagalog bakal ng kabayo
  • bakal ng kabayometallic shoe of a horse
Tamil லாடம்
  • லாடம் (lāṭam)metallic shoe of a horse
Thai เกือกม้า, เกือกม้า
  • เกือกม้า (gʉ̀ʉak-máa)metallic shoe of a horse
  • เกือกม้า (gʉ̀ʉak-máa)shape of a horseshoe
Turkish nal, nallamak
  • nalmetallic shoe of a horse
  • nallamakto apply horseshoes to a horse
Ukrainian підко́ва
  • підко́ва (pidkóva)metallic shoe of a horse
Urdu نال, نَعْل
  • نال (nāl)metallic shoe of a horse
  • نَعْل (na'l)metallic shoe of a horse
Vietnamese móng ngựa
  • móng ngựametallic shoe of a horse
Welsh pedol
  • pedolmetallic shoe of a horse
Yiddish פּאָדקאָווע
  • פּאָדקאָווע (podkove)metallic shoe of a horse
Cite this entry
APA

horseshoe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/horseshoe

MLA

“horseshoe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/horseshoe. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “horseshoe,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/horseshoe.

Source: horseshoe on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.