transhumance

trans·hu·mance
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/tɹænzˈhjuːməns/

noun

The seasonal movement of grazing livestock (especially cattle, sheep, or goats) to new pastures which may be quite distant; alpine and nonalpine versions of such movement exist.

OriginFrench transhumance ← Latin trāns →
Scrabble 19
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Meanings

nountranshumance (countable and uncountable, plural transhumances)

plural transhumances

  1. countableuncountableThe seasonal movement of grazing livestock (especially cattle, sheep, or goats) to new pastures which may be quite distant; alpine and nonalpine versions of such movement exist.

    There are rites of spring in the mountains, and this week I followed the transhumance, the annual movement of cattle, from their lower valley winter quarters up to the higher pastures.

    2005 June 17, C. J. Moore, “Meanwhile: With a hop-hop-hop and a bottle of Swiss bubbly”, in New York Times, retrieved 20 Aug 2014

Origin

  1. Latintrāns“across, beyond”
  2. Frenchtranshumance
  3. Englishtranshumance

Borrowed from French transhumance, ultimately from Latin trāns (“across, beyond”) + humus (“ground”).

More words from French, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 山牧季移, 季節移牧 /季节移牧
  • 山牧季移 (shānmùjìyí)the movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
  • 季節移牧 /季节移牧 (jìjié yímù)the movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
  • 季節性牲畜移動 /季节性牲畜移动 (jìjiéxìng shēngxù yídòng)the movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
  • 季節性遷移放牧 /季节性迁移放牧 (jìjiéxìng qiānyí fàngmù)the movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
Dutch veetrek
  • veetrekthe movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
Finnish laitumenvaihto
  • laitumenvaihtothe movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
French transhumance
  • transhumancethe movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
German Wanderweidewirtschaft
  • Wanderweidewirtschaftthe movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
Irish buailteachas
  • buailteachasthe movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
Italian transumanza
  • transumanzathe movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
Norwegian Bokmål buferd, bufar
  • buferdthe movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
  • bufarthe movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
Polish transhumancja, przegon
  • transhumancjathe movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
  • przegonthe movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
Portuguese transumância
  • transumânciathe movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
Russian перегон скота, отгон скота
  • перегон скота (peregon skota)the movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
  • отгон скота (otgon skota)the movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
Spanish trashumancia
  • trashumanciathe movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
Swedish transhumans
  • transhumansthe movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
Turkish konargöçerlik
  • konargöçerlikthe movement of people with their grazing animals to new pastures
Cite this entry
APA

transhumance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/transhumance

MLA

“transhumance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/transhumance. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “transhumance,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/transhumance.

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