Oxen

[ok-suh n] /ˈɒk sən/

noun
1.
a plural of .
[oks] /ɒks/
noun, plural oxen for 1, 2, oxes for 3.
1.
the adult castrated male of the genus Bos, used chiefly as a draft animal.
2.
any member of the bovine family.
3.
Informal. a clumsy, stupid fellow.
/ˈɒksən/
noun
1.
the plural of ox
/ɒks/
noun (pl) oxen (ˈɒksən)
1.
an adult castrated male of any domesticated species of cattle, esp Bos taurus, used for draught work and meat
2.
any bovine mammal, esp any of the domestic cattle
n.

plural of ox, it is the only true continuous survival in Modern English of the Old English weak plural. OED reports oxes occurs 14c.-16c., “but has not survived.”
n.

Old English oxa “ox” (plural oxan), from Proto-Germanic *ukhson (cf. Old Norse oxi, Old Frisian oxa, Middle Dutch osse, Old Saxon, Old High German ohso, German Ochse, Gothic auhsa), from PIE *uks-en- “male animal,” (cf. Welsh ych “ox,” Middle Irish oss “stag,” Sanskrit uksa, Avestan uxshan- “ox, bull”), said to be from root *uks- “to sprinkle,” related to *ugw- “wet, moist.” The animal word, then, is literally “besprinkler.”

Related Terms

dumb ox

Heb. bakar, “cattle;” “neat cattle”, (Gen. 12:16; 34:28; Job 1:3, 14; 42:12, etc.); not to be muzzled when treading the corn (Deut. 25:4). Referred to by our Lord in his reproof to the Pharisees (Luke 13:15; 14:5).