heifer

Meaning

Noun

• A young female cow, one over one year old but which has not calved.
• A wife.
• A girl or young woman.
• A cow: a large, unattractive, unpleasant woman.

Origin

• From Middle English hayfare, hayfre, heyfer, from Old English heahfore, compound of (1) *heag- (compare dialectal German Hagen, Hegel, Middle Dutch haechdroese, Old English hagan), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱak- (compare Sanskrit शक्नोति, Avestan 𐬯𐬀𐬐-) and (2) -fore (compare English elver, fieldfare, Old English sceolfor).