caprine

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin caprīnus; equivalent to a surface analysis of either Capr(a) + -ine or Capr(inae) + -ine.

adj

1. Of or relating to Capra (goats).
   Coordinate term: ovine
2. Of or relating to Caprinae (goats, sheep, and certain wild relatives): caprid.
3. Goatlike: goatish; goaty.

noun

1. Any of certain caprids (including sheep) that are regarded as being similar to the goat; any member of the tribe Caprini.
   2008, Charles R. Peters, et al., 3: Paleoecology of the Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem, A. R. E. Sinclair, Craig Packer, Simon A. R. Mduma, John M. Fryxell (editors, Serengeti III: Human Impacts on Ecosystem Dynamics, page 77, By the late Holocene, most archaeological sites in the central Rift Valley display a significant pastoralist occupation and are dominated by cattle and caprines, while others preserve an abundant wild grassland fauna with substantial numbers of cattle and caprines (Gifford, Isaac, and Nelson 1980).
   For instance, the graph of the Early Bronze Age sites shows that the relative frequency of caprines in regions 1, 2, and 3 does not differ significantly. 2010, Aharon Sasson, Animal Husbandry in Ancient Israel: A Zooarchaeological Perspective on Livestock Exploitation, Herd Management and Economic Strategies, page 47
   Middle seventh-millennium BC domesticated caprines near the Red Sea coast may be introductions from across the Red Sea or along its coastal margins from the north (Vermeersch et al. 1994: 39), perhaps emphasizing the Red Sea littoral as a distinctive cultural area rather than a barrier or route to somewhere else. 2011, Joy McCorriston, Pilgrimage and Household in the Ancient Near East, page 123
   The caprines (a group that includes the goats, sheep and ibex) originated about 11 million years ago in either Africa or Europe, the earliest fossils coming from Africa and Greece. 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 105

Etymology 2

noun

1. Alternative form of caprin