On Thu, Oct 29, 2020 at 04:19:53PM -0400, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
Male cattle are bulls (or steers, if castrated). Female cattle are cows (or heifers, if young).
OT: "mankind" includes females. "Cows" is often used in a way that includes males.
Well most of the time when people see "cows" they are in fact cows. You don't see too many bulls around. They can be a bit bull headed and kinda annoying after all. So I guess people using cows generically are usually correct by accident.
Chickens are another interesting case. Female chickens are chickens. Males are roosters (or capons). I will leave the application to excrement as a exercise for the reader.
An adult female chicken is a hen. An adult male chicken is a rooster. The species is chickens. -- Len Sorensen