What does "transhumance" mean?

The seasonal movement of people, with their cattle or other grazing animals, to new pastures which may be quite distant.

How do you pronounce "transhumance"?

Pronounced //tɹænzˈhjuːməns//.

//tɹænzˈhjuːməns// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The seasonal movement of people, with their cattle or other grazing animals, to new pastures which may be quite distant. countable, uncountable
"There are rites of spring in the mountains, and this week I followed the transhumance, the annual movement of cattle, from their lower valley winter quarters up to the higher pastures."

"Transhumance can also be an international manifestation of lucid peasants who resist the dictates of the administration."

Borrowed from French transhumance, ultimately from Latin trāns (“across, beyond”) + humus (“ground”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.