The plural form of ox, referring to fully grown cattle, especially castrated males used for pulling heavy loads.
From Old English 'oxan,' which is an ancient irregular plural form that survives from Proto-Germanic '*uksenan.' The word 'ox' itself comes from a root meaning 'to breed' or 'moisture,' reflecting the animal's fundamental role in agriculture.
Oxen are one of the last irregular plurals we keep in English—we could have said 'oxes' but we don't, which is a quirk inherited from when English had way more irregular plurals like 'kine' for cows and 'shoon' for shoes. This is a linguistic fossil showing how English evolved!
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