Goatherd
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A person who herds, tends goats.
"'Oh, yes. A man was brought to us about a year ago. There'd been a big storm along the southern sector of the Taklamakan. It went on for four or five days. This man was a goatherd from Tongguzbasti. He'd gone out into the desert in search of tamarisk, along with a camel for the load. At midday he had some bread and water and lay down for a sleep. When he woke there was a storm the like of which he'd never seen before. There was nothing for it but to hunker down and make the best of it; but at some point - whether it was day or night he couldn't say - he found himself on his feet, shouting and screaming at the noise, and walking for what must have been miles.'"
- 2 a person who tends a flock of goats wordnet
Example
More examples"A goatherd drove his goats, all white with snow, into a deserted cave for shelter."
Etymology
From Middle English goteherd, from Old English gāthierde, equivalent to goat + herd (“herder”).
Related phrases
More for "goatherd"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.