# EGG+EGG=? \[Puzzle clue\]

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-egg-puzzle-clue/751810>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 10, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-egg-puzzle-clue/751810 "2016-04-10T17:45:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-egg-puzzle-clue/751810/41 "2016-04-14T07:45:23Z")

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> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> No, “cow” is the generic term for **any** individual of some type of domestic cattle, irrespective of age or gender. (It can also refer specifically to such individuals that are mature females.)
> 
> Just as “dog” comprises both (male) dogs and bitches, and “goose” comprises both (female) geese and ganders, “cow” comprises both (female) cows and bulls.

Colloquially maybe, but male cattle aren’t cows any more than a Dyson vacuum cleaner is a “hoover”

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-egg-puzzle-clue/751810/42 "2016-04-14T18:50:00Z")

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> [@Mr\_Shine](#):
>
> Colloquially maybe, but male cattle aren’t cows any more than a Dyson vacuum cleaner is a “hoover”

The problem, really, is the lack for a well-known and widely-used gender-neutral word for animals of that type.

In contrast, we have “stallion” and “mare” for certain animals of specific genders, but we also have “horse” for them all. We don’t have a word like that for cows and bulls. We do have “cattle”, but that’s a collective term and doesn’t really work for an individual one. We also have “kine”, but I think that’s archaic and not much known these days, and I think it may also be a collective term.

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