ruminant

A ruminant is an even-toed, hoofed, four-legged mammal that eats grass and other plants. Ruminants include domestic cattle (cows), sheep, goats, bison, buffalo, deer, antelopes, giraffes, and camels.

Ruminants typically have a stomach with four compartments. They are known for chewing cud, which is food that has been regurgitated from the first compartment to be chewed again. To chew and rechew in this way is to ruminate, and this process called rumination.

Ruminant can also be used as an adjective to describe such animals.

It can also be used in a figurative way to describe someone who ruminates on things—extensively thinks them over or ponders them. (When used in a figurative way, the verb ruminate and the noun rumination are more commonly used than the adjective ruminant.)

Example: Ruminants typically thrive in grasslands where there is ample space for them to graze.

The first records of the word ruminant come from the 1600s. It ultimately derives from the Latin verb rūmināre, meaning “to chew the cud.” Rūmināre comes from the Latin rūmen, which gives us the English rumen—the first of four compartments in the stomach of ruminant animals.

The other three compartments are called the reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. Ruminants belong to the suborder Ruminantia and come in many shapes and sizes—from tiny goats to huge bison to tall giraffes. But they have several features in common. They all have hooves with an even number of toes. They’re all four-legged. They often have horns. And they have four-part stomachs that allow them to get nutrients from grass and other plants by regurgitating it and chewing it over again.

You can see how this can be used figuratively: when you ruminate on something, you think about it over and over. In fact, the idioms chew it over and chew the cud both refer to contemplating something for a while.

What are some other forms related to ruminant?

• ruminate (verb)
• rumination (noun)

What are some synonyms for ruminant?

• contemplative (figurative sense)

What are some words that share a root or word element with ruminant? 

• rumen

What are some words that often get used in discussing ruminant?

• cattle
• cow
• sheep
• goat
• deer
• chew
• cud
• stomach
• ponder
• think
• consider
• contemplate
• meditate

The word ruminant is typically used in the context of farming, ranching, and scientific studies about animals.

We found the first shepherds arriving, taking advantage of the open range, and ice still melting for ruminants to cool off and drink. pic.twitter.com/EddMFsoFkp

— The Sheep from the Future (@future_sheep) May 27, 2020

Agriculture is the largest single source of greenhouse emissions in New Zealand, accounting for 48% of the country's total in 2017. Methane emissions from ruminant animals made up 34% of its total emissions. https://t.co/WKB0EwRS27

— NPR (@NPR) November 8, 2019

The genomes of ruminant animals—which includes cattle, sheep, and antlered deer—promise advances for #agriculture, #conservation, and #biomedicine. But they're also showing how humans have had impacts on several species. ($) https://t.co/gOSYlqQzLW #SciMagPerspective #Evolution pic.twitter.com/FYXNhmeWHF

— Science Magazine (@ScienceMagazine) June 24, 2019

Is ruminant used correctly in the following sentence? 

Ruminant animals have been domesticated for thousands of years.